Court to hear challenge to sealed warrant behind search of Ilhan Omar's home

Paul Walsh, Star Tribune on Nov 13, 2026

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A federal judge has scheduled a hearing for next week regarding the effort by the Minnesota Star Tribune and other news media to compel the U.S. Department of Justice to unseal a warrant for a search conducted last month at the Washington, D.C., home of U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.

Homeland Security Investigations agents carried boxes of evidence from the Minneapolis Democrat’s Washington residence on Oct. 12 in connection with federal authorities investigating potential fraud in her family’s immigration paperwork.

The Star Tribune, the New York Times and Judicial Watch, a group that advocates for conservative causes, are among more than a dozen news outlets requesting that Judge James Boasberg unseal the warrant and related records.

Boasberg will hear from the plaintiffs and the Justice Department on Tuesday in the wake of Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, pushing back on the media request.

Pirro explained in a court filing that “the press is trying to unseal materials about a search warrant ... within an active criminal investigation all before a charging decision has been reached and publicly announced. ... Unsealing everything now imperils the investigation.”

She contended that the news organizations have failed to identify “a single case in which a court unsealed a warrant-related document while the execution was still ongoing and during an investigation.”

She did hold out in her filing that at some point in time, her office “will not necessarily oppose unsealing at least some of the search warrant records.”

Pirro has said “there are several investigations going on” related to Omar, including issues related to her financial disclosures.

A source familiar with the investigation said officials confiscated Omar’s cell phone, laptop, notebooks and passport during the raid and that some of her family members have been subpoenaed, including her sister.

U.S. border czar Tom Homan said on Fox News that he was told federal investigators have a “strong case” against Omar and it’s possible she could be deported back to Somalia if convicted.

Omar was born in Somalia, and her family fled the civil war there before eventually arriving in Minnesota in 1997, when she was 14 years old. She has said that she naturalized as a U.S. citizen before turning 18.

In an interview last month on the MS NOW television news network, Omar said, “I’m confident in my truth. I’m confident in the fact that I didn’t do anything wrong.”

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