#News Citizenship records from USCIS and DHS appear to show that there is nothing on file to show that Ilhan Omar’s father actually naturalized in the U.S. – meaning the path Omar used to secure citizenship isn’t valid.
Former Minnesota congressional primary challenger AJ Kern filed a FOIA request, which led to the confirmation that agency searches of index systems under Nur Omar Mohamed and name variants (including Nur Said Elmi Mohamed) found “no record” and “no matching index reference.”
The USCIS letter that was sent in response said that after a thorough search, they found nothing.
“Unfortunately, we found no matching index reference. Our research included all variations of the subject’s name, including Nur Said Elmi Mohamed with the same results.”
DHS followed with the formal Certificate of Nonexistence of Record, from the National Records Center’s Immigration Information Integrity Branch.
Minnesota election officials also said they do not independently verify a candidate’s citizenship – just like in voting – and that candidates only have to attest to being a citizen.
Omar signed the same type of affidavit in June 2018 affirming she was “a citizen of the United States.”
For years, including while Omar served in the Minnesota House, the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library and other sources listed her birth date as October 4, 1981.
That would have made her 18 or 19 in 2000.
On May 17, 2019 – right after she entered Congress and after questions about her age came out – her congressional staff contacted the library and requested the year to be changed to 1982.
A library director’s email from May 24, 2019, confirmed the request and noted that staff were also contacting Wikipedia and the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress to make the change.
Now the current official biography lists October 4, 1982.
Omar has said the earlier year was simply incorrect and that records were lost in the collapse of Somalia. She has never publicly produced a birth certificate.
Should members of Congress be required to produce proof of citizenship documents when they get elected?
#ChristinaAguayoNews
