Ilhan Omar says she will leave her Washington home after federal search

Rep. Ilhan Omar said she will move out of her Washington, D.C., home because the attention from last week's federal search has made her feel unsafe there, and described agents seizing 17 items in a four- to five-hour search tied to an investigation into her family's immigration paperwork.

Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota said Wednesday that she will move out of her Washington, D.C., home after federal agents searched it last week, saying the attention from the raid has made her feel unsafe there. In her first interview since the search, given to MS NOW, Omar said she remains "confident in the fact that I didn't do anything wrong."

Omar said Homeland Security Investigations agents arrived around 6 a.m. with a warrant and banged on her door. The search lasted four to five hours, and agents seized 17 items, including phones, notebooks, a Somali-language children's book and a vintage camera her husband had received as a gift. She described the agents as "intrusive but polite," saying they logged what they took and put everything else back in its place.

Immigration paperwork probe

Ilhan Omar at a polling place in Minneapolis (file)

Federal authorities are investigating possible fraud in her family's immigration paperwork, according to the Associated Press. A person briefed on the investigation told the AP that grand jury subpoenas were issued to some of her relatives. The Justice Department has said only that it is a criminal investigation. Addressing the possibility of charges tied to the period when her family arrived, Omar said: "It would be a huge undertaking to, I suppose, indict a 12-year-old."

Omar was born in Somalia and came to the United States at 12 after her family obtained asylum; she became a citizen in 2000. A frequent target of President Donald Trump, she is running for reelection on Nov. 3 in a solidly Democratic district centered on Minneapolis. Congressional Democrats have sharply condemned the search and questioned its timing, noting that the Justice Department has historically avoided overt investigative steps involving candidates just before an election.

Ilhan Omar says she will leave her Washington home after federal search