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Obama Backs Ilhan Omar, Accuses Trump Administration of Targeting Political Foes
ReObama Backs Ilhan Omar, Accuses Trump Administration of Targeting Political Foes
Former President Barack Obama defended Rep. Ilhan Omar amid a federal investigation into her citizenship, accusing the Trump administration of weaponizing government against political critics and warning of a dangerous precedent.
Former President Barack Obama publicly defended Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., on Sunday, accusing the Trump administration of selectively targeting the congresswoman because of her political criticism of the president. In a lengthy statement posted on X, Obama said the federal investigation into Omar's citizenship amounts to an effort to strip her of U.S. citizenship and deport her, calling the campaign «appalling» and a threat to basic democratic principles.
«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. «But that’s exactly what the Trump Administration is doing to Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.» The former president's remarks came after federal agents searched Omar's Washington, D.C., home as part of a criminal investigation into her immigration status. Investigators are examining whether Omar or her father committed fraud on immigration paperwork when she became a U.S. citizen decades ago, according to sources familiar with the probe.
Obama sought to rebut the premise of the investigation by laying out the circumstances of Omar's naturalization. He said Omar arrived in the United States with her father at age 12 and automatically became a citizen at 17 when her father was naturalized. The former president accused investigators of pursuing an «unsubstantiated theory» that Omar was actually 18 at the time, which would have required her to apply for citizenship separately. «To understand why this is so appalling, it’s important to know the facts,» Obama wrote.
The former president also framed the investigation as part of a broader pattern of federal actions against perceived political opponents, pointing to scrutiny involving New York's attorney general, a former FBI director and members of the Federal Reserve. «The full weight of the federal government is being brought down on a law-abiding elected official because she has dared to criticize the president,» Obama wrote. He warned that if such tactics become routine, future presidents of either party could use them against their own critics. «The fact that any president, or any administration, is willing to engage in such transparent efforts to intimidate someone should outrage all Americans, regardless of how they feel about Congresswoman Omar’s political views,» he said. «Because 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.»
President Donald Trump has denied involvement in the investigation, telling reporters the matter was up to the Justice Department. «I've always found her to be totally crooked, personally, but that has nothing to do with me,» Trump said. The White House and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Obama's allegations.
Omar, a Somali-born progressive lawmaker, has faced a turbulent period marked by dueling probes that have thrust her into the center of a national debate over immigration enforcement and political retaliation. Obama's intervention elevates the dispute from a routine federal inquiry into a broader argument about the boundaries of executive power and the treatment of elected officials who criticize the president. The former president's statement also puts him back in the political fray at a moment when the administration's use of federal agencies against adversaries is under intensifying scrutiny.
The case has drawn attention from civil liberties advocates and lawmakers in both parties who warn that citizenship status should not become a tool for political punishment. For now, the investigation continues, and the White House has not signaled whether it will respond directly to Obama's charges. The former president's message concluded with a call for public outrage, arguing that the principle at stake extends beyond Omar herself to the future conduct of American government.
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