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The Trump administration’s recent effort to bring the law down on Rep. Ilhan Omar could go as far as seeking to strip the Minnesota congresswoman of her citizenship for alleged immigration fraud. But a criminal investigation is unlikely to yield results the president wants, according to a former federal prosecutor.
Michael Wildes, an immigration attorney, told Fox News Digital that investigators face a “very high bar” to build a case against Omar after White House border czar Tom Homan confirmed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is conducting a “criminal” investigation against the progressive squad member.
It all stems from claims that Omar married her brother to gain U.S. citizenship, which she has repeatedly denied.
President Donald Trump has a longstanding feud with Omar going back to when she was first elected in the middle of his first term, and quickly became one of his most vocal critics in Congress. Trump has repeatedly called for Omar to be sent back to Somalia because of her alleged fraudulent activity.
The Trump administration continues to ramp up efforts to denaturalize and deport individuals accused of immigration fraud. And Vice President JD Vance claimed earlier this year that the Department of Justice is investigating Omar for alleged fraud and immigration violations.
But questions remain over what a potential prosecution and denaturalization case against the Somali-born lawmaker would require.
Wildes said that investigators would need to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Omar knowingly entered her marriage — to a man critics allege is her brother — for the sole purpose of evading U.S. immigration laws.
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“In order to establish a successful marriage fraud case, the government would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt… that the defendant knowingly entered into a marriage with the primary purpose to evade immigration laws and get a benefit,” Wildes said.
Wildes noted that even if Omar and her husband, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, decided after getting married that their partnership could be a scheme for Elmi to fast pass America’s immigration process, this would not be considered marriage fraud in court.
He continued, “Those are very high bars and thresholds that they would have to surmount. The immigration benefit cannot be a byproduct, or secondary consideration. This is not deemed to be illegal.”
If evidence was presented to prove Omar and Elmi committed marriage fraud, the Minnesota Democrat could face up to five years in jail, a maximum fine of $250,000, or both.
Wildes also pointed out that there are statutes of limitation that could hinder a potential prosecution and make it more difficult to prosecute Omar for marriage fraud, as that marriage was in 2009. But there is still a pathway for Omar to be denaturalized, which Homan described as a “very serious process” while discussing the investigation into the congresswoman.
“The question is: Do they have it factually, and is it the right thing to do?” Wildes said.
“The question is whether or not inadvertences were made not purposefully and whether or not it’s over the top to then denaturalize somebody,” he said. “We’re talking about taking away a benefit and then banishing them from the United States.”
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For Omar to be denaturalized, the process would have to be related to allegations that she falsified information when obtaining her own citizenship in 2000. Omar claims she was granted automatic citizenship because she was a minor when her father was naturalized.
Congressional records state Omar became a citizen at age 17, but speculation that she was older at the time of her naturalization began after former Minnesota congressional candidate AJ Kern accused Omar’s birth year of being revised on the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library website.
This caused allegations to circulate on social media that she was not a minor at the time, which if ever proven true, could lead to her denaturalization. Even if her father lied in his citizenship paperwork, this could also potentially lead to Omar being stripped of her citizenship.
Wildes also explained that the government makes a “case-by-case” decision when it comes to pursuing denaturalization cases. He also pointed out the relevancy of an intentional lie as opposed to a mistake.
“If the government were to prosecute for document fraud, we would also want to know whether or not she was represented by counsel, and if there were simple mistakes on her application or inadvertences that may be deemed to be fraudulent,” Wildes said.
“Whether or not [these] things are truthful, hypothesized, or can be backed up in fact, will play heavily in that prosecution.”
Homan didn’t answer whether the federal government has evidence that Omar committed either marriage or immigration fraud, while also declining to go into detail into what particularly DHS is investigating Omar for.
Omar told Fox News Digital just last week that she has not been contacted by DHS or made aware of any ongoing investigation into her marriage or immigration status, saying she isn’t worried about it because “the right wing always had this s — going.”
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But Wildes said her being unaware that she is being investigated is not unusual and doesn’t invalidate Homan’s confirmation of a “criminal” investigation against her.
“The Congresswoman’s not being aware doesn’t change anything,” Wildes said. “There is no obligation for the government to show their hand and they’re going to want to make sure that they have a good prosecution and they don’t give anything up in the interim because of the politics that this presents as well.”
“I haven’t seen anything that I think is worthy of a prosecution,” Wildes said. “This is a member of Congress. It may not be your politics, but we have to also make sure that we engage in prosecutions properly and not frivolously. “
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Neither Omar nor DHS responded to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.
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