DHS Chief Calls Omar Probe a ‘Large Case’ Involving Multiple People, Not a One-Woman Vendetta

A happy couple (AI generated)

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin spent part of his day explaining, again, that federal investigators are not staging a personal drama against Rep. Ilhan Nur Said Elmi [aka Ilhan Omar]. The matter, he said, is bigger than one member of Congress and has already been handed to the Justice Department.

“This is a large case that we have presented to the DOJ,” Mullin told Fox News. “We’re enforcing our nation’s laws, and we’re going to do that. We’re not weaponizing. We’re not using political theater on this.”

He added that the same rules apply to everyone else: “And if Congress doesn’t like those laws, they can change it, and we’ll also enforce those laws. But if somebody committed a crime, we don’t look at that any different. I don’t care where you’re seated. I don’t care how you’re registered to vote. I don’t care what your job title is. We use it equally.”

The renewed interest centers on Omar’s 2009 marriage to Ahmed Nur Said Elmi. The New York Times reported that authorities examined the marriage in 2016 under the Obama administration. Prosecutors at the time declined a felony marriage-fraud charge because the five-year statute of limitations had run. Omar, listed by the Department of Justice under the name “Ilhan Nur Said Elmi,” married Elmi that year; the couple divorced in December 2017. She has denied claims that Elmi, described in reporting as gay, is her brother.

Mullin stressed that the file is not limited to the congresswoman. “This isn’t just a case that’s targeting one individual. This is a large case that we have presented to the DOJ, and the DOJ is leading the investigations,” he said.

Federal law bars marriages entered solely for immigration benefits. Every state bars marriage between siblings. According to The Daily Wire, Elmi received a provisional two-year green card after the 2009 wedding, then tried to convert it to permanent status. He stopped the process once officials asked for more evidence about the marriage and later left for the United Kingdom.

More than 100 House Democrats responded by signing a letter that treats the inquiry as an election-year weapon aimed at Omar for her opposition to President Trump. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries signed. Roughly 40 Democrats did not, among them Reps. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, Nancy Pelosi, Tom Suozzi, Laura Gillen, and Josh Gottheimer.

Mullin answered the letter by recalling the previous administration’s handling of Trump. “We’re not the Democrat Party that came after their political enemies like President Trump, and they know they weaponized our DOJ and FBI. And it’s shameful, absolutely shameful, that they did that,” he said.

Whether investigators can prove the underlying facts is still open. Democrats have already announced what they believe the motives must be. That conclusion does not establish what occurred in 2009.

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