Vice President JD Vance alleged Friday that Rep. Ilhan Omar committed immigration fraud, claiming she married her brother in order to help him remain legally in the United States, reigniting accusations that have followed the Minnesota lawmaker for years.

Speaking on a podcast hosted by Benny Johnson, Vance said he believes Omar engaged in wrongdoing tied to her immigration history.

“We actually think that Ilhan Omar definitely committed immigration fraud against the United States of America,” Vance said.

Omar’s office quickly rejected the accusation, with her chief of staff issuing a sharp response.

“This is rich coming from someone who literally said they were willing to ‘create stories’ to redirect the media,” said Omar’s chief of staff Connor McNutt. “This is a ridiculous lie and desperate attempt to distract from the pedophile protection party’s unpopular war of choice, increasing gas prices, and rapidly dropping polling numbers.”

The claims referenced by Vance date back to before Omar’s successful run for Congress in 2018 and have been widely circulated but remain unproven.

Omar has been married twice. She first entered into a religious marriage with Ahmed Abdisalan Hirsi in 2002, though the two did not formalize their union under state law until January 2018, according to prior reports.

Before that legal marriage, Omar had wed Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, a British citizen, in February 2009 during a ceremony officiated by a Christian minister in Minnesota. She later dissolved that marriage in December 2017, shortly before legally marrying Hirsi.

Omar has described her relationship with Elmi as brief, noting that they were largely separated during the marriage, aside from a period between 2009 and 2011. There are no records indicating the two had children together.

She and Hirsi, however, have three children, born in 2003, 2005, and 2012. Around the time of the birth of their third child, social media activity reportedly drew attention after a photo appeared to show Elmi holding a newborn, accompanied by a caption referencing “nieces.” The image was later removed.

Allegations that Omar and Elmi were related first surfaced on online forums and blogs, though those posts were also subsequently deleted.

In 2016, while serving as a Minnesota state legislator, Omar addressed the matter, saying her marriage to Elmi was “a difficult part of my personal history that I did not consider relevant in the context of a political campaign.”

Claims about her relationship with Elmi were further amplified in 2020 when Somali community member Abdihakim Osman told a media outlet that Omar had introduced Elmi as her brother during the late 2000s.

Omar, who immigrated from Somalia, became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2000 at age 17.

Marriage fraud is a federal offense that can carry penalties of up to five years in prison and fines of up to $250,000.

Vance said he has been discussing potential legal avenues with White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, raising questions about how such a case could be investigated and pursued.

“How do you go after her? How do you investigate her? How do you actually build the case to actually get some justice for the American people?” Vance said.

He also claimed that Omar has been connected to broader issues within the Somali-American community, suggesting further scrutiny may be warranted.

“I’m worried about the immigration,” Vance said. “I’m also worried about: What did Ilhan Omar know about what was happening in the Somali-American community? And why was nobody looking into it until, frankly, Donald Trump came along?”

President Trump has previously made similar accusations, calling for legal action against Omar over alleged ties to fraud cases involving Somali community networks in Minnesota.

Federal and congressional investigations have since examined alleged misuse of funds in social service, childcare, and Medicaid programs in the state, with potential losses reaching into the billions.

Separate scrutiny has also focused on Omar’s financial disclosures, including her reported net worth alongside her husband, Tim Mynett. Public filings indicated a significant increase in their assets in recent years.

Omar and Mynett married in March 2020 after his prior marriage ended, following a relationship that began while he was working on her political campaign.

{Matzav.com}