175 House members ask Justice Department and DHS to halt election-season steps after search of Omar’s home

By Renata Vos

WASHINGTON — The top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee and 174 other members of Congress have asked Attorney General Todd W. Blanche and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to refrain from “any further actions that could affect the outcome of the upcoming election” after federal agents searched Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Washington home this month, according to a letter dated Oct. 26.

The Justice Department has described the Oct. 12 search as lawful and court-approved. A department spokesperson said agents executed a “judicially authorized search warrant” that is “part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation,” NBC News reported. The White House and DHS referred questions to the Justice Department. President Trump said he had “nothing to do with it” and that “that’s really up to the DOJ,” according to NBC. Last month, before the search, White House border czar Tom Homan told Fox News that DHS was investigating Omar and said that “regardless if they’re a congressman or not, no one’s above the law,” NBC reported. NPR also reported on the search.

The department has not publicly described the subject of the investigation. News reports, cited in the letter, say it concerns immigration paperwork filed by Omar’s late father after the family fled Somalia’s civil war. Omar, a Minnesota Democrat seeking re-election in the 5th District on Nov. 3, has denied wrongdoing. No charges have been announced.

What the letter says

The letter was led by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the Homeland Security Committee’s ranking member; Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), ranking member of the Judiciary subcommittee on immigration; Judiciary ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.); Oversight ranking member Robert Garcia (D-Calif.); Congressional Black Caucus Chair Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.); and Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Greg Casar (D-Texas). House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) are among the other signers, according to the committee Democrats’ release, which puts the total at 175 members.

The signers wrote that agents from Homeland Security Investigations, a DHS component, executed the warrant “around dawn” on Oct. 12 and were seen removing boxes of documents. “This weaponization of law enforcement to harass a sitting Member of Congress 22 days before an election is unprecedented and unacceptable,” they wrote.

The letter relies on a long-standing Justice Department policy. Section 9-85.500 of the Justice Manual tells prosecutors not to time investigative steps or charges to affect an election or give an advantage to a candidate or party, and to consult the Public Integrity Section when an action could have that effect. The letter describes the policy as counseling against investigative steps this close to an election when a delay would not jeopardize the investigation.

The members also wrote that a 2019 review of the same matter during the first Trump administration “ultimately determined there was insufficient evidence of wrongdoing,” citing a Washington Post report. They cited Vice President JD Vance’s statement in a March interview with Benny Johnson posted on YouTube that Omar “definitely committed immigration fraud,” and quoted Mullin as saying last month that “something’s going to happen” with Omar.

Committee picture

The letter is a minority-party action. The Homeland Security Committee, chaired by Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.), has not announced any hearing or inquiry on the search, and Garbarino did not sign the letter. Congress is out of session until after the election, and the letter does not set a deadline for a response.

Thompson and committee Democrats have separately pressed DHS in recent weeks over its spending, including a Nov. 4 deadline they set for records on a $464 million aircraft purchase, as the Inquisitor reported Oct. 26.

Who was contacted

The Inquisitor asked the Justice Department, DHS, Chairman Garbarino’s committee staff, Ranking Member Thompson’s committee staff, Rep. Jayapal’s office and Rep. Omar’s office for comment, and will update this story with any response.

Photo: Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. Kristie Boyd, U.S. House Office of Photography, via Wikimedia Commons (public domain).