Ilhan Omar's deleted tweet may reveal that she really did marry her brother
Key Points:
- Rep. Ilhan Omar is under federal investigation regarding her identity and immigration records, with scrutiny arising from a since-deleted 2013 social media post referring to her father as "Nur Said," a name similar to that of her ex-husband, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi.
- Omar's home was raided by federal agents on October 12 as part of a probe into possible falsified immigration documents, and court filings referred to her as "Ilhan Nur Said Elmi," though she denies using any name other than "Ilhan Abdullahi Omar."
- Allegations have circulated that Omar married her brother in 2009 to secure him a green card, a claim she and her office vehemently deny, calling it a baseless conspiracy theory and describing the deleted post as removed due to threats against her family.
- Somali naming conventions complicate the issue, as names often include the given names of the father and grandfather, and similarity in names does not necessarily indicate familial relations.
- Omar divorced Said Elmi in 2017 and remarried Ahmed Hirsi in 2018, and she has publicly dismissed the marriage allegations as "insane" and without any basis.