NEWYou can now listen to articles!
Ilhan Omar is not the “real name” of the Minnesota congresswoman, Digital has confirmed.
Her real name is Ilhan Nur Said Elmi, according to two people familiar with the ongoing investigation into the Somali-born congresswoman, including a law enforcement source.
And if proven in court that Omar has lived her “entire lives under an alias,” a former Minnesota federal immigration judge tells Digital that every single form she ever filled out could be “called into question.”
On Wednesday, U.S. District Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro filed a motion seeking to prevent the federal search warrant for the congresswoman’s home from being unsealed, which was requested by several media outlets. The motion says the federal government is not yet finished executing the search warrant, and that it shouldn’t be unsealed yet.
A motion filed by U.S. District Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro refers to “Congresswoman lhan Nur Said Elmi, a/k/a Ilhan Abdullahi Omar. (U.S. District Attorney for the District of Columbia)
“Before the Court are three Applications to unseal ex parte materials and proceedings related to a federal search warrant for the personal residence in the District of Columbia of Congresswoman Ilhan Nur Said Elmi, a/k/a Ilhan Abdullahi Omar…” the motion begins.
“That’s not her real name,” one source said when asked why the motion used the “a/k/a Ilhan Adbullahi Omar” language.
Digital first reported in the midst of the search of the lawmaker’s Washington, D.C. residence that federal investigators are probing whether she or her father committed fraud when filling out her immigration paperwork.
Investigators obtained the elected official’s DNA and seized her personal phone and passport during the Oct. 12 pre-dawn raid.
FEDERAL AGENTS SEIZE PHONE OF REP ILHAN OMAR IN RAID TIED TO IMMIGRATION FRAUD PROBE
Omar’s sister, Sahra Noor, was questioned by federal investigators last week in relation to the probe, Digital exclusively reported.
Conservative personality Will Chamberlain first posted the motion on X speculating that the “DOJ believes [Omar] is present in the United States under a false identity.”
Digital has now confirmed with multiple sources familiar with the investigation that Omar is not the congresswoman’s birth name.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., speaks during a press conference on Wednesday, in which she blamed President Donald Trump for death threats and attacks against her. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
REP ILHAN OMAR’S IMMIGRATION HISTORY FACES NEW SCRUTINY AS FEDERAL INVESTIGATORS SUBPOENA RELATIVES
Omar has publicly confirmed that she does not have a birth certificate.
In an official U.S. House biography, her birthday is listed as Oct. 14, 1982, and states that she was born in Mogadishu, Somalia. She says she came to the U.S. with her family as refugees fleeing war-torn Somalia in 1995, when she was a minor.
Omar has not been charged with a crime, and materials presented by prosecutors are only allegations.
Attorneys for the embattled congresswoman did not return Digital’s request for comment.
Nathan Hansen, a former federal immigration judge from Minnesota, listed the extent to which the supposed name change could impact the case against the congresswoman.
“You think of all the types of documents somebody like her might have filled out,” he said. “There’d be federal student loan and student aid applications, maybe federal housing related applications, maybe public assistance applications, passport applications, passport information and driver’s license information, Real I.D. information [and] voting information.”
ILHAN OMAR’S TURBULENT WEEK EXPLAINED: THE DUELING PROBES THAT THREW THE SOMALI-BORN PROGRESSIVE INTO CHAOS
He said if someone has lived their entire lives under an alias, there are many criminal charges that could be levied.
“Sometimes they might say that that would be a wire fraud charge, they always add that one,” said Hansen. “And that’s pretty broad. But, you know, a lot of these documents are sworn under penalty of perjury.”
“If this is not, like, a real legal name, it’s got some legal backing to it that every type of government form she’s filled out in her entire existence might be called into question,” Hansen said.
Representative Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota, arrives for a town hall event in Minneapolis, Minnesota, US, on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. (Angelina Katsanis/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
ILHAN OMAR SHOULD BE JAILED, DEPORTED IF CITIZENSHIP FRAUD PROVEN, TOP HOUSE REPUBLICAN SAYS
The representative for Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District in the U.S. House, has long faced allegations that she married her brother for immigration purposes.
In 2009, she legally married a man named Ahmed Nur Said Elmi. The pair split in 2017. The following year, she was elected to Congress. In 2020, she married her third husband, political consultant Tim Mynett.
In Omar’s first public interview since the raid on her home, she sat down with MS NOW’s Chris Hayes. During that interview, she once again denied those allegations, calling them “insane.”
ILHAN OMAR BELIEVES TRUMP RAID ON HOME WAS MEANT TO ‘INTIMIDATE AND SCARE PEOPLE’ FROM VOTING
“You’re not related to him at all?” Hayes asked. “There’s not some weird kernel of truth…?”
“Not to my knowledge,” she replied.
In the wake of the raid, Omar has accused President Donald Trump and his administration of targeting her politically.
Homeland Security Investigations police search the home of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., on Oct. 12, 2026, in Washington, D.C. According to reports, the search is part of an ongoing criminal investigation. (Andrew Leyden/Getty Images)
“This raid by Trump’s DHS is an outrageous abuse of power and an unprecedented escalation in the weaponization of federal law enforcement to target political enemies,” she said in a statement on X.
HOMAN SAYS ILHAN OMAR COULD BE STRIPPED OF NATURALIZATION, DEPORTED IF IMMIGRATION FRAUD IS PROVEN
“For a decade, Donald Trump has relentlessly targeted Congresswoman Ilhan Omar with inflammatory rhetoric, repeatedly putting a target on her back,” the post continued. “Now, those attacks have escalated to a pointless federal raid. The Congresswoman has done nothing wrong. No president should be able to use the power of the federal government to intimidate his political enemies.”
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE APP
Digital reached out to a spokesperson for Omar, but did not hear back at time of publication.
