Recently the Department of Justice has assigned an FBI special agent to work with Immigration and Customs and Enforcement and the Department of Education Inspector General in charge of investigating Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn). Both departments are looking into criminal violations having to do with perjury, immigration fraud, marriage fraud, tax fraud, and student loan fraud.
At face value one would imagine that the criminal investigation of Omar is bad enough, at the very least she would be forced to resign her position as Congresswoman. However, it’s actually worse, she is an immigrant and she could lose her citizenship and could be deported back to Somalia.
Immigration lawyer Matthew Kolken breaks down the analysis of what could have to Rep. Omar, he writes:
Omar was born in Somalia, and immigrated to the United States as a Somali refugee. At some point after her admission to the country, she obtained U.S. citizenship. The Associated Press reported on November 5, 2009, that Omar fled Somalia to a refugee camp in Kenya with her family in 1991. She ultimately immigrated to the United States as a refugee in 1995.
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U.S. immigration law permits refugees to apply for permanent residence, commonly known as a “green card,” one-year after arrival.
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Omar became a citizen in 2000, five years after her arrival, at the age of 17.
This last detail is important, and is where things start to get murky. If Omar became a U.S. citizen at the age of 17, she must have obtained it through automatic acquisition after the naturalization of at least one of her parents. Omar would not have been able to apply for citizenship on her own because individuals are ineligible to apply for naturalization until age 18.
If she is convicted for tax evasion where loss to the government exceeds $10,000, she will be removable for having an aggravated felony conviction, which also precludes her from applying for asylum. If she is convicted for marriage fraud, she would be ineligible to be sponsored if she were to marry a U.S. citizen. Needless to say, the worst-case scenario is very bleak.
Rep. Omar better have a really good immigration lawyer because she is going to need it. Don’t think Omar being charged won’t happen, Pelosi hates her. I would just be happy if this gets her out of Congress.
You can read Kolken’s full analysis here.
