We Now Know What Led the Feds to Raid Ilhan Omar’s Home: Her Sister’s Phone

Information that led to the search of Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar’s home came from her sister’s cell phone, according to a new report.

Last Monday, the far-left Minnesota lawmaker’s home was raided by federal officials, who have been tight-lipped about what triggered the raid.

News reports have suggested that the Somalia-born Democrat is being investigated on immigration-related issues.

The New York Times said Saturday that text messages from one of Omar’s sisters became important as federal investigators shaped a case against her of “conspiring to commit immigration fraud.”

The raid on Ilhan Omar’s home was triggered by information discovered on a seized phone belonging to Omar’s sister, according to the New York Times.

The report comes as new reporting by NewsNation reveals that feds were dumpster-diving at Omar’s home, presumably to obtain DNA evidence.

Federal investigators are reportedly reviewing family text messages that implicate Rep. Omar.

“The messages were obtained from a phone that officials seized earlier this year from one of Ms. Omar’s sisters, Sahra Noor,” the New York Times reported.

Whatever they discovered on the phone was used to get a federal judge to authorize a search of Omar’s home.

The investigation will find out if Omar and her family members lied on immigration paperwork to get into the United States.

NewsNation also reports that federal agents collected Omar’s garbage.

Former federal prosecutor Shan Wu says the move is confusing but could be to determine Omar’s own relationship to her family, including claims she married her brother.

“If we’re looking at DNA, it’s like a whodunnit: ‘Were they there?’ And it’s kind of hard to figure out how the fraud investigation would figure into that type of evidence,” said Wu.

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) October 17, 2026

The text messages came from the phone of Sahra Noor, one of Omar’s sisters, The New York Times reported, citing sources it did not name.

Whatever the texts contained, the information in them was put before a judge, who then authorized the raid, the outlet reported.

The New York Times reported that the raid comes in the context of “an open criminal investigation that is before a federal grand jury in Minnesota.”

🚨 UPDATE: Federal agents SEIZED Ilhan Omar’s sister’s phone and used family text messages to help get a judge to sign off on the raid of her home, and the case is being built to prove she CONSPIRED to commit immigration fraud — NYT

BOOM.

The phone belonged to her sister Sahra Noor, a health care executive and author, and was seized earlier this year…

The case is now before a federal GRAND JURY in Minnesota, and subpoenas have gone to Noor and several others in Omar’s orbit

NewsNation also reported that agents went through the family’s trash for DNA before Monday’s raid 👀

A key question is whether Omar or her late father misstated her birth date so she could derive citizenship through him as a minor

I THINK SHE’S DONE FOR.

No wonder her sister skipped her own book event! 😅

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) October 17, 2026

Subpoenas have been issued to Noor and others connected to Omar.

The crux of the probe, The New York Times wrote, is whether Omar and her family either lied or did not provide key information during the immigration process.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said on Friday that officials were building a “strong case” against Omar.

“We perceive a law was broken, and our laws were broken, and we’re enforcing once again our nation’s laws,” he said.

In comments cited by RealClearPolitics, legal expert Jonathan Turley noted that Omar’s father “filled out much of the paperwork that may be the subject of this search.”

“He had a record as a colonel in a really brutal regime, and there may be questions as to those original papers,” Turley said.

He then explained why Omar’s age when she obtained citizenship matters.

“By saying that she was 17, she did not have to file for her own citizenship,” Turley said.

A report in the New York Post said that her congressional staff previously pushed to have Omar’s official birth date changed from 1981 to 1982 in the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library.

Weeks ago, Mullin foreshadowed that actions against Omar were coming.

“There may be more to this — the whole family migration and possibly some illegal activity for them to come to the United States to begin with. But all of this, we’re investigating,” he said.

“If you decided to break the law or lie on the information you gave the United States… but you didn’t tell us who you actually were … there’s no expiration to that. If we can prove it that you shouldn’t have been here in the first place, we’ll deport you,” he added.

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