Obama accuses Trump admin of weaponizing federal government against Ilhan Omar

Former President Barack Obama accused President Donald Trump and his administration of weaponizing the federal government against its political opponents, including Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar, who is currently under investigation for her citizenship. Obama is accusing the administration of revoking Somali-born Omar’s U.S. citizenship, warning that their actions could establish a troubling precedent.

“It is a basic principle of American democracy that the government can’t selectively target individuals simply because of their political beliefs or what they say,” Obama wrote on X. “But that’s exactly what the Trump Administration is doing to Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.”

Obama’s comments follow a search of Omar’s Washington, D.C., home by Homeland Security Investigations agents as part of a criminal probe into her immigration status. Originally from Somalia, Omar came to the U.S. with her family as a child. According to U.S. media outlets, the investigation revolves around her American citizenship and allegations that she may have misrepresented her age when she arrived in 1995.

Obama is setting the facts straight

Obama said Omar’s father became a naturalized citizen when she was 17, and that because she was not yet legally an adult, she then gained citizenship. “To understand why this is so appalling, it’s important to know the facts. Congresswoman Omar came to this country with her father when she was 12 years old. Five years later, her father became a naturalized citizen. If Ilhan had been 18 at the time, she would have had to apply for citizenship separately. But because she was 17, she became a naturalized citizen automatically.”

The former president accused investigators of pursuing an “unsubstantiated theory” that Omar was already 18 when her father became a naturalized citizen, which he said would have required her to apply for citizenship separately. “Now the Administration is actively trying to deport Congresswoman Omar, seemingly based solely on the unsubstantiated theory that she was actually 18 when her father was naturalized, and therefore is not a citizen,” he wrote. “If this becomes the new normal, there’s no reason to believe it will stop with her – or that future presidents, in either party, won’t do the same.”

Omar has said that Trump has targeted her for 10 years with “baseless lies and smear campaigns.” She called the investigation “the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation“.

Meanwhile, White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis told the BBC that the investigation was not politically motivated. “Unlike Joe Biden, President Trump has not weaponized the Department of Justice against his political foes,” she said in an email. “The Department is focused on restoring law and order and keeping Americans safe.”

Trump previously said the investigation had “nothing to do” with him or the administration, while describing Omar as a “terrible person.” Trump said: “I think she’s a terrible person, just a complainer. She comes from a country that’s a non-country, and then she comes over here, and she complains about our Constitution. I think she’s a terrible person, but that’s really up to the DOJ. I have nothing to do with it.”