Ilhan Omar’s Attorneys Demand Return of Property Seized in Federal Search of Her Home

Attorneys for Rep. Ilhan Omar asked the Justice Department on Friday to return all property federal agents seized from her home this week, calling the search “neither justified nor lawful.” The letter, obtained by CNN, is the first formal response from Omar’s legal team to the Monday search of her Washington-area home in an immigration fraud investigation.

The letter, signed by attorneys Amy Jeffress and Joshua Matz, describes the investigation as “vindictive, retributive, and politically motivated” and says it “violates Representative Omar’s constitutional rights and threatens the separation of powers.” The lawyers also asked that all video and audio recordings made by agents during the search be preserved.

Alleged violations of the judge’s procedures

Omar’s lawyers say agents failed to follow special procedures set by the federal magistrate judge who approved the warrant. According to the letter, the House of Representatives’ Office of General Counsel was not notified until after the search was publicly reported, and no one from the U.S. attorney’s office or the Justice Department was present to read Omar her privileges under the Speech or Debate Clause. Instead, the letter says, agents presented Omar with a waiver she did not sign and gave her no chance to identify or separate materials protected by the clause.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the letter. The Journal also reported this week that the investigation is aimed at building a case to strip Omar of her U.S. citizenship, and that agents took her cellphone, notebooks, computers and passport. Federal authorities have also issued more than a dozen grand jury subpoenas, including to some of her relatives, according to a person briefed on the probe who spoke to the Associated Press.

Justice Department rejects the claims

Department spokeswoman Emily Covington said the letter was “riddled with false allegations and inaccuracies,” and that “our attorneys and law enforcement partners complied with all court orders and legal obligations, as they always do.” She added that “leaking a letter to the press right after sending it is not good faith. It is a publicity play.”

Omar’s attorneys maintain there is “no legitimate basis for any suggestion that she has violated any law concerning her citizenship status,” noting she became a naturalized citizen in 2000 after fleeing Somalia in 1995. The letter points out the search came less than three weeks before Election Day, in which Omar is on the ballot, and that the Justice Department has historically avoided investigative actions this close to an election. The letter also asks agents to stop referring to Omar by her first name in warrant paperwork and to use her proper title going forward.

Reporting based on coverage by CNN, The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press.