▶ Watch Video: Democrats push back on DHS search of Rep. Ilhan Omar’s D.C. home
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said federal agents executed multiple search warrants on the same day they searched Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Washington home. While appearing on a podcast Friday, Mullin described the ongoing investigation as a “strong case” while suggesting cases of coordinated immigration fraud could be prosecuted under federal racketeering laws.
In an interview with Andrew Kolvet, who hosts the “Charlie Kirk Show,” Mullin volunteered that multiple warrants had been served on Monday, adding that a judge had authorized the enforcement action and that investigators expected to present their case to a grand jury.
Omar has not been charged with a crime. She has called the investigation politically motivated.
“She wasn’t – or it wasn’t the only place we served the warrant,” Mullin said, referencing the D.C. residence of the Minnesota congresswoman. “There was multiple other warrants served on that same day.”
“We had a judge sign it, and we expect to be able to take the case to a grand jury,” Mullin said, revealing new details about the scope of the operation. “But I will tell you, 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. Now they want to try making it political driven. This individual wants to try making it about themselves. This was about enforcing once again our nation’s laws, and it’s a strong case.”
President Trump previously stated he didn’t know anything about the investigation, which is being handled by DHS’ Homeland Security Investigations division and the Justice Department. Asked about the Omar probe on Monday, Mr. Trump told reporters: “I think she’s a terrible person, but that’s really up to the DOJ.”
Mullin’s remarks came amid a federal investigation into possible fraud involving immigration documents submitted by Omar’s family decades ago. The documents in question date back to Omar’s childhood, involving paperwork completed by her late father when she was a child, CBS News reported earlier this week. Multiple relatives of Omar received grand jury subpoenas as part of the investigation, and the lawmaker’s personal cellphone was taken by DHS, sources told CBS News.
During the interview, Kolvet also asked Mullin about a hypothetical scenario involving a former foreign warlord who entered the United States as a refugee with his daughter. Mullin did not establish that the circumstances applied to Omar’s family. But the DHS secretary did use the hypothetical to suggest that those who submit fraudulent immigration documents and enable others to enter the country under the same purported scheme could very well be prosecuted under U.S. law.
Such conduct, he said, could potentially constitute a violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, a federal law used to prosecute organized criminal enterprises.
“If someone … fills out their paperwork illegally, and they claim that they are this person and this is their background, and then underneath that individual, a lot of other people come in. And I’m just saying hypothetically across a whole bunch of cases that’s out there, then that can be considered a RICO case, right?” the DHS secretary offered. “Because there was conspiracy to deceive the American government, and therefore everything else that came in with it could then be looked at [part of] the same case.”
Mullin suggested that a racketeering prosecution could allow investigators to examine conduct extending back decades, arguing that statutes of limitations generally would not apply to such cases.
Under federal law, criminal RICO prosecutions are generally subject to a five-year statute of limitations, although in certain cases prosecutors can incorporate older acts into a timely prosecution involving an ongoing criminal enterprise or conspiracy.
In Grunewald v. United States, the Supreme Court held in 1957 that prosecutors cannot indefinitely extend a conspiracy simply because perpetrators covered it up after it ended.
Mullin did not explicitly indicate that prosecutors were pursuing RICO charges against Omar. But his remarks did suggest investigators are considering whether alleged immigration violations could be examined as part of a broader conspiracy rather than simply as isolated offenses. He said Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents had worked closely with the Justice Department to build out the case.
It is unusual for federal officials to speak openly about ongoing criminal investigations beyond confirming that a court-authorized search was conducted, in part due to due process protections and grand jury secrecy rules.
CBS News has reached out to Omar’s attorney for comment.
Earlier this week, Omar — a staunch Trump critic who has drawn the president’s ire for years — denied all wrongdoing and said she “will not be silenced.”
“Make no mistake: this is an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement,” she wrote on X. “For ten years, Trump has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns. This is just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation.”
