A family text message discovered on the phone of Rep. Ilhan Omar’s sister triggered the federal raid on the Minnesota Democrat’s Washington, DC, home. The search marked a dramatic escalation in an immigration fraud investigation involving Omar and her family.

Federal investigators seized the phone of Omar’s sister, Sahra Noor, earlier this year, three people familiar with the matter told the New York Times. Investigators were examining whether Omar, who was born in Somalia, conspired to commit immigration fraud when she entered the US.

Text messages recovered from Noor’s phone were used to secure approval from a federal judge for the search. Department of Homeland Security agents then raided Omar’s home Monday and seized several personal items.

The raid on Ilhan Omar's home was triggered by information discovered on a seized phone belonging to Omar's sister, according to the New York Times.

The report comes as new reporting by NewsNation reveals that feds were dumpster-diving at Omar's home, presumably to obtain DNA evidence. Federal investigators are reportedly reviewing family text messages that implicate Rep. Omar. "The messages were obtained from a phone that officials seized earlier this year from one of Ms. Omar’s sisters, Sahra Noor," the New York Times reported. Whatever they discovered on the phone was used to get a federal judge to authorize a search of Omar's home. The investigation will find out if Omar and her family members lied on immigration paperwork to get into the United States. NewsNation also reports that federal agents collected Omar's garbage. Former federal prosecutor Shan Wu says the move is confusing but could be to determine Omar's own relationship to her family, including claims she married her brother. "If we’re looking at DNA, it’s like a whodunnit: ‘Were they there?’ And it’s kind of hard to figure out how the fraud investigation would figure into that type of evidence," said Wu. — Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) October 17, 2026

Agents took Omar’s phone, passport, notebooks, and personal computers during the search. The raid placed the congresswoman’s communications, travel documents and other records in federal custody as investigators continued their inquiry.

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Noor currently lives in Kenya and had been scheduled to appear at an event in Rochester on Thursday. She skipped the event, where she was expected to promote her new book, “Salt in the Snow: A Somali Immigrant Story.”

Noor cited a “family emergency” for missing the scheduled appearance amid the fallout from the federal raid. The source did not provide any additional public explanation from Noor regarding the seized phone or the text messages investigators reportedly obtained from it.

Federal agents also searched Omar’s discarded trash for DNA before conducting the raid, sources told NewsNation. That effort indicated investigators were seeking genetic material in addition to the electronic records and personal documents later seized from Omar’s Washington, DC, residence.

Multiple sources have confirmed to me that federal agents went dumpster diving to get DNA from Minnesota Congresswoman @IlhanMN and her family before the raid on her D.C. home earlier this week. Our reporting suggests investigations go far beyond simple immigration fraud.

NewsNation sources say the likely coming indictments will be stunning in nature and far beyond anything the public has understood the case to be about. — Leland Vittert (@LelandVittert) October 17, 2026

Former FBI special agent Tracy Walder told NewsNation that discarded material could offer investigators a straightforward path to obtaining DNA. She addressed the collection effort while discussing the report that agents had searched Omar’s trash before the raid.

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“To me, if they are obviously trying to obtain DNA, then, yes, that is a very easy get, especially if it was discarded even in a trash can,” Walder told the outlet.

The evidence is expected to be presented to a federal grand jury in Minnesota. The grand jury is expected to consider whether Omar and members of her family lied when they immigrated to the US in 1995.

Federal authorities have also issued subpoenas to several members of Omar’s family. The subpoenas add another investigative front as authorities examine the circumstances surrounding the family’s immigration to the United States.

Omar and her family were admitted to the US as refugees following Somalia’s civil war. Omar’s father, Nur Omar Mohamed, had been a senior colonel serving a brutal dictator who killed an estimated 200,000 people.

Sources previously told The Post that Mohamed misrepresented his identity when he entered the United States. Omar has said that she became a naturalized citizen in 2000 at age 17 through her father.

The seizure of Noor’s phone and the reported use of its text messages provided a key path to the search of Omar’s home. Yet Omar’s office declined to comment directly when the New York Times asked about the confiscation of Noor’s device.

Instead, Omar spokeswoman Jackie Rogers accused President Trump of abusing his authority and pursuing a personal vendetta against the congresswoman. Her statement did not directly address the family text messages, the subpoenas or the reported effort to collect DNA.

“Trump has spread lie after lie about the congresswoman in a desperate attempt to justify his extraordinary abuse of power,” Rogers told the New York Times in a statement.

“This is politically motivated and an escalation of Trump’s personal vendetta against her lasting over a decade.”

The federal investigation now includes property seized from Omar’s residence, text messages obtained from her sister’s phone, subpoenas directed at family members and DNA reportedly collected from discarded trash. The evidence is expected to move before a Minnesota grand jury as authorities examine the family’s 1995 immigration.

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