(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Thursday issued the strongest indication to date that embattled Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., could face consequences in connection with allegations that she married her brother in a potential immigration fraud scheme.
Speaking with podcaster Benny Johnson at the GOP’s midterm convention, Mullin said that he knew Omar married her brother and indicated the ongoing investigation could reveal additional “illegal activity.”
“Something’s going to happen,” Mullin said when asked about potential consequences. “This is an ongoing investigation. We know that she married her brother to try to bring him to the United States. We know he lives now in London.”
While still using hedging language, Mullin added that if DHS moves forward with a case, it would not be “political.”
🚨BREAKING: DHS Secretary Just Confirmed That Rep. Illhan Omar Did Marry Her Brother
“We know that she married her brother to try to bring him into the United States. There may be more to this, possibly some illegal activity."
I asked DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin about… pic.twitter.com/BuZGdpiGjJ
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) September 11, 2026
“And so we’re looking at—it’s more than just her case. We’re looking at a lot of cases that are very similar to this that we feel like they’ve made their fraud from the get-go,” he continued. “But when we move forward, it’s not political. It’s because you chose to break the nation’s laws.”
The first indication that the Trump administration was examining the allegations against Omar came in December, when White House border czar Tom Homan said “there was immigration fraud involved” in Omar’s marriages.
BREAKING: Border Czar Tom Homan announces DHS is looking into whether Ilhan Omar came to the U.S. illegally by marrying her brother.
"We're pulling the records, we're pulling the files. I'm running that down this week. We'll see." pic.twitter.com/RAI3cRiVOH
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) December 10, 2025
Questions about Omar’s past marriages have long dogged her political career.
When she ran for the Minnesota state House of Representatives, Omar had to clarify her marriage history.
At the time, she told MPR News that she married Ahmed Hirsi, the father of her three children, through a Muslim ceremony but remained legally married to another individual, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi.
Elmi, who technically was Omar’s second husband, currently lives in England. Omar is currently married to Tim Mynett, a political consultant who worked on her congressional race in 2018.
Omar has long denied claims that she married a sibling, calling the allegations Islamophobic. She has not sued anyone for defamation in connection with the claims, which first emerged on the Power Line blog.
The Daily Mail subsequently reported in February 2020 that Omar allegedly told friends that Elmi was actually her brother, citing former friend Abdihakim Osman.
Osman claimed Omar wanted to give Elmi “papers” to remain in the U.S. Headline USA has not independently verified Osman’s or Power Line’s allegations.
