Ilhan Omar Faces Renewed Citizenship Questions After Staff Sought Birth-Year Change

Rep. Ilhan Omar is facing fresh scrutiny over her citizenship history after emails showed that her congressional staff asked a Minnesota state library to change her listed birth year in 2019.

The request came months after Omar entered Congress and followed a viral video by a political opponent questioning her age. The change has since fueled allegations about whether Omar qualified for citizenship through her father. The records described here do not, on their own, establish that she committed fraud.

Staff Asked Library to Update the Record

Omar’s birth year was listed as 1981 in the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, as well as on Wikipedia, in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress and in media reports, including the BBC. Those listings remained unchanged during her time in the Minnesota House and for several months after she was elected to Congress.

In May 2019, Omar’s congressional staff contacted the library to request a correction to 1982, according to emails reviewed by The New York Post.

“On May 17, 2019, Library staff were informed by Rep. Omar’s congressional staff that her birth year was incorrect and requested that we change it to 1982,” the library’s director wrote.

The director said Omar’s staff was also working to update her birth year on Wikipedia and in the congressional biographical directory. In a separate email, the director explained that the 1981 date had originally been entered because it was widely available online, without supporting documentation.

Omar Says She Became a Citizen Through Her Father

Omar has said she obtained U.S. citizenship through her father, Nur Omar Mohamed, who she says became a naturalized American citizen in 2000. Her family reportedly came to the United States from Somalia in 1995.

“I became a citizen actually before I turned 18,” Omar told The Intercept in September 2018.

“My father became a citizen and so I got my citizenship through that process,” she explained.

Critics argue that the difference between the two birth years could matter to her account of when she became a citizen. They have questioned whether she was still a minor when her father naturalized.

AJ Kern, who challenged Omar in the 2022 Democratic primary for Minnesota’s Fifth Congressional District, has disputed her account.

“For derivative citizenship, two things have to be true — one, her father had to naturalize; and two, she still had to be a minor — and what I have found is that it’s highly likely that neither of those things are true,” Kern alleged.

Kern filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission seeking proof of Omar’s citizenship. She said the complaint was unsuccessful because a judge determined that vetting members of Congress was Congress’s responsibility.

Federal Investigation Renews Attention

The allegations have resurfaced after federal agents searched Omar’s Washington, D.C., residence on Monday. Homeland Security Investigations agents conducted the search as part of a multi-year criminal investigation involving her immigration history.

People familiar with the investigation have said authorities are examining possible false statements on immigration paperwork. No finding of wrongdoing is established by the information described here.

Kern suggested agents may have been looking for “her citizenship papers, her father’s naturalization record.”

President Donald Trump amplified Kern’s allegations in a December 2025 Truth Social post. Administration officials have also discussed an ongoing immigration fraud investigation.