ICE rejects Rep. Ilhan Omar claim son was pulled over by feds, pressed for citizenship proof: ‘Absolutely zero record’
Ice has denied a viral claim made by Representative Ilhan Omar, who said her son was asked to prove his U.S. citizenship after a stop at a Target store in Minnesota.
Omar first told the CBS Twin Cities affiliate that ICE agents had performed a traffic‑stop‑like encounter with her son on Saturday, but she was released once he showed a U.S. passport or passport card.
Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons refuted the story on Tuesday in an interview with Fox News Digital, saying the agency has no record of pulling Omar’s son over. “ICE has absolutely zero record of its officers or agents pulling over Congresswoman Omar’s son,” he said.
“It speaks volumes that Congresswoman Omar is leveling this accusation with absolutely zero proof.” Lyons also condemned Omar’s comments to a local outlet as a “ridiculous effort” to demonize federal law enforcement, noting a sharp rise in threats toward ICE staff—including a 1,150 % jump in assaults and an 8,000 % increase in death threats.
Omar, a mother of three, maintains that her son was simply out for an errand when ICE approached him. Her spokesperson, Jacklyn Rogers, told Fox News Digital that the congresswoman stands by the account: “The congresswoman’s son and others were pulled over by ICE, racially profiled, and forced to prove their citizenship with a passport.”
Rogers added that ICE has historically been viewed as a rogue agency and that the agency’s claim to keep records on all stops is questionable. She invited ICE to share those records for review.
Omar also responded to President Donald Trump’s recent slur calling her “garbage” amid a fraud scandal involving Minnesota’s Somali community. She described the remark as “really disturbing and creepy” to have a president “obsessed with you and those who share your ethnicity.”
Trump had also suggested she married her brother to gain citizenship, a claim Omar rejected outright. “Everybody knows I came to the United States at the age of 12; gained my citizenship at the age of 17,” she said.
In her own marriage history, Omar first entered a religious marriage with Ahmed Abdisalan Hirsi in 2002, had two children, then married British citizen Ahmed Nur Said Elmi in 2009, separating in 2011 before reuniting with Hirsi in 2012.
After legally divorcing Elmi in 2017, she married Hirsi again in 2018 until their separation, and is now married to political consultant Timothy Mynett.
During the CBS interview, Omar also slammed the Trump administration for vilifying Somalis amid the fraud investigation. “Here in the United States, we don’t blame the crimes of an individual on a whole community.
We are, as Minnesotans, also outraged by the fact that our tax dollars were defrauded,” she said, expressing support for any inquiry into whether state funds have ended up with the East African terror group Al‑Shabab.
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