Homan Says Investigators Have a 'Strong Case' and Ilhan Omar Could Lose Her Citizenship

White House border czar Tom Homan says the federal case against Rep. Ilhan Omar is strong, and that if she lied to become an American, she can lose that citizenship and be sent out of the country.

Asked on Fox News' "The Big Weekend Show" on Saturday, Oct. 17, whether this could mean denaturalizing and then deporting the Minnesota Democrat, Homan didn't hedge. "Of course. If you lie during the naturalization process, there is a process to denaturalize somebody. We've done it before, it's a long, tedious process, but it's been done before. I've been involved with those investigations before, and certainly, if the evidence points that way, that could happen" (video).

"I said over a year ago the allegations were made clear and it would be investigated. And they are investigating it," he said. "I've been told they have a strong case and we'll let the evidence lead where it leads. But she'll be held to the same standard you and I are held. If she violated law, then she will be held accountable." Asked whether investigators were looking at anything beyond immigration fraud, he said: "That's a question for the FBI. I know things, but that's the question for FBI."

What investigators did

Agents from Homeland Security Investigations, ICE's criminal arm, searched Omar's Washington home on Monday, Oct. 12, and took her personal cellphone, CBS News reported. Several of her relatives had received grand jury subpoenas the Friday before. A magistrate judge approved the warrant only after making prosecutors add rules that let Omar's lawyers screen the seized material for anything protected by her role as a member of Congress, CBS said.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin then went further than officials usually do about an open case. "There was multiple other warrants served on that same day," he said on "The Charlie Kirk Show" on Oct. 16. "We had a judge sign it, and we expect to be able to take the case to a grand jury." He said the president wanted the case airtight before anyone moved: "We wouldn't move forward, and President Trump didn't want to move forward either, unless we knew that it couldn't be politically driven ... it's a strong case" (CBS News).

The New York Times first reported that investigators had earlier seized a phone belonging to Omar's sister, Sahra Noor, and that family text messages on it helped persuade a judge to approve the search. One question at the center of the case, the Times reported, is whether Omar was already 18 when her father became a citizen in 2000. A minor child gets citizenship automatically through a parent. An adult doesn't.

The law Homan is talking about

Denaturalization is in 8 U.S.C. § 1451. Federal prosecutors can go to court to cancel a person's citizenship if it was "illegally procured" or obtained "by concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation." In plain English: citizenship you got by lying was never really yours, and a judge can take it back. It's rare, slow and decided in federal court, not by the White House. That's exactly why Homan called it "a long, tedious process."

Omar's side, and Trump's

Omar has not been charged and denies doing anything wrong. "Make no mistake: this is an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement," she posted after the search. Her lawyers have accused the Justice Department of breaking the judge's protocols (CBS News).

President Trump says the case belongs to the Justice Department. "Well, I think she's a crooked person, but I'm not involved. It's a DOJ," he told Newsmax's Rob Finnerty at the White House on Oct. 15. "It's gonna be up to them. I'm not involved in that" (video; transcript).

Why it matters

Democrats call this politics weeks before an election. But the record so far shows a judge-approved warrant, grand jury subpoenas and a cabinet secretary saying the case is headed to a grand jury. Homan's standard is the one every naturalized American already lives by: tell the truth on your papers. If Omar did, she has nothing to fear. If she didn't, the law is the law, for a congresswoman the same as anyone else.