Congressman Invokes Omar’s U.S. Citizenship — or Lack Thereof

by Sharon Rondeau

(Feb. 21, 2026) — During the final hour of Saturday morning’s edition of “Fox & Friends,” Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN2), who last month called for a subpoena for Rep. Ilhan Omar’s immigration records, specifically told the three co-hosts that questions regarding Omar’s “immigration” status stem from whether her father naturalized.

Omar (D-MN5) is serving her third term in the U.S. House of Representatives following one term in the Minnesota House.

It was the first time, to this writer’s knowledge, that Omar’s father’s naturalization was identified as the fulcrum on which the congresswoman’s legal status rests. Burchett added that if Omar were found to have obtained her House seat lacking U.S. citizenship, she would be expelled from Congress.

Article I, Section 2 requires all members of Congress to be U.S. citizens.

As of this writing, a video of the segment does not appear to be available despite the existence of a video from the program.

As The Post & Email has reported, several years ago former Omar congressional challenger AJ Kern filed FOIA requests with both the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to discover the very piece of information Burchett identified. The responses she received indicated the agencies hold no records of Nur Omar Mohamed’s naturalization.

To the best of this writer’s knowledge, neither the media nor President Trump, who has expressed a desire to expel Omar and Somalians in general from the country for other reasons, has acknowledged that if Omar’s father did not naturalize prior to her 18th birthday, she could not have obtained derivative citizenship as she claims, a fact pointed out by Kern in a video she posted in 2022.

As Kern explained, Omar has claimed her father naturalized in 2000 after five years‘ residence in the U.S., which is the minimum amount of time required for a legal permanent resident (green-card holder) to obtain U.S. citizenship, assuming other requirements are met.

Omar has never alleged to have naturalized independently following her 18th birthday, nor did she produce any documentation of U.S. citizenship in response to a lawsuit Kern filed as she sought the DFL nomination in District 5 against Omar and another foreign-born candidate, Don Samuels.

Samuels, too, declined to release any proof of U.S. citizenship, which Kern discovered the state of Minnesota does not require of foreign-born candidates for public office.

Judge Bridget Ann Sullivan dismissed the case, claiming only Congress possesses the ability to compel its members to prove their eligibility for office.

Within days of the video’s publication, Omar asked her former Minnesota legislative office and other sources of her biography to alter her birth year from 1981 to 1982.

Omar has also been accused, including by the president, of having effected a 2009 sham marriage to her blood brother, who shortly afterward attended North Dakota State University with Omar and eventually returned to the UK.

In an unusual statement to the media nearly a decade ago, Omar admitted the man, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, was a British citizen.

The two were “divorced” in 2017.

Trump has termed Omar “a total scam artist” and “fake congresswoman” as well as tied her to the fraud scandal now dogging Minneapolis and greater Minnesota after citizen investigators discovered daycare centers, medical agency services and child-nutrition programs were pilfered of millions, and later, billions, of taxpayer dollars.

Most of those involved, Trump has emphasized, are Somali immigrants.

Her finances are under investigation by the House Oversight Committee which has, according to Fox News, referred the matter to the Ethics Committee.

Omar has denied any wrongdoing and claimed the congressional probes are politically motivated.

According to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in December, up to 50% of the visa applications from Somalia contain elements of fraud.

In the wake of the burgeoning scandal, last month DHS announced it would terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for approximately 2,500 Somalis.

Update, 7:32 p.m. EST, Feb. 26, 2026: A video of the segment is here (h/t TM).