Congresswoman Ilhan Omar continues to face mounting scrutiny as President Donald Trump has recently called her immigration status into question—and White House Border Czar Tom Homan has confirmed that she is being investigated for potential immigration fraud.
But one woman has been raising red flags about Rep. Omar, pointing out critical details about her age, naturalization, and immigration status that have been overlooked and ignored for years, she says.
AJ Kern, who ran for Congress herself, joined Liz Collin on her podcast to talk about the shocking details in documents related to Rep. Omar’s personal history and immigration status.
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Rep. Omar has repeatedly “claimed that she became a citizen at the age of 17,” Kern explained.
However, based on public records, Kern said it seems as though Rep. Omar “was actually 18 in the year 2000, when her father became eligible to apply for citizenship.”
After requesting and reviewing official documents, Kern believes that Rep. Omar “actually wasn’t a minor when her father could apply for naturalization. It kind of blows a hole in her story that she obtained naturalization or citizenship when she was 17.”
Ilhan Omar changed her birth year—just days after a social media post
Kern also pointed out how Rep. Omar changed her birth year on certain records—a key detail hiding in plain sight that Kern says has been long overlooked.
Kern discovered that “Ilhan Omar’s congressional staff contacted the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library on May 17th [2019] requesting to change the congresswoman’s date of birth from October 4, 1981 to 1982.”
Even more telling, Kern said Rep. Omar’s staff made the request “just two days after a video was published on social media pointing out that Ilhan was not 17 years old in 2000.”
Alpha News reviewed emails showing the Legislative Reference Library was contacted on May 17, 2019, by Omar’s staff and asked to change her birth year to 1982. The emails also state that Omar’s staff was working with the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress to change her birth year on that site as well.
1982—Rep. Omar’s birth year?
As Kern explained to Collin, the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library currently lists Rep. Omar’s birth year as 1982.
A previous version of that page, however, listed Rep. Omar’s birth year as 1981.
According to Kern, “Ilhan’s Oct 4, 1981, date of birth clearly corroborates that she was not 17 years old in 2000, but rather 18 turning 19. Fully two years beyond what would be allowed for naturalization through her father.”
Omar has stated in interviews that she became a citizen in 2000 at the age of 17 when her father became a citizen, and she got her citizenship “through that process.” Her campaign previously told the Associated Press that she “can’t get birth certificates because the infrastructure in Somalia collapsed during a civil war that displaced over 2 million Somalis.”
The revision history to the Ilhan Omar Wikipedia page references the change to her birthdate and notes that “the birthdate makes this appeal to age incorrect and unverified …”
Omar’s father
Along with discrepancies about the year Rep. Omar was born, Kern said she was unable to find documentation to support that Rep. Omar’s father, Nur Omar Mohamed, had actually become a naturalized citizen of the United States.
In responding to Collin’s question about skeptics, Kern explained that naturalization records for living immigrants are not typically available, but records for deceased immigrants can be obtained.
Kern said that she requested documentation about the citizenship status and naturalization of Rep. Omar’s father, and learned that “no record is found to exist.”
Based on all the documents she requested and reviewed, Kern believes “the whole narrative that Ilhan Omar became a citizen at the age of 17” and “that it’s been documented” has been “sold for so long that people have bought into it and they believe it.”
“No one has verified her citizenship. Where? Show me the documents,” Kern said.
She also explained that when it comes to Rep. Omar’s official documentation, “No one has seen her official naturalization records. No one. Not the Minnesota Secretary of State, not the Federal Election Commission, not Congress and there is plenty of evidence especially in changing her birth year. I mean, who does that?”
Minnesota Secretary of State does not verify citizenship status of candidates
While trying to get answers, Kern discovered something that she finds even more astonishing: “When a candidate goes to file to run for an elected office, the state is not verifying US citizenship.”
When she discovered that Rep. Omar changed her birth year, Kern said she “went to the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office … and found out that they didn’t verify her citizenship—and they actually don’t,” as shown in a video that Kern published.
Kern’s efforts have gained attention recently, as one of her social media posts was shared by President Trump’s Truth Social account.
Despite the attention, Kern says she’s holding out for a more thorough federal investigation, especially since “Omar has never disputed anything that I have publicly shared or questioned. Never. She’s never addressed it.”
“Congress has a job to monitor their own, and that’s what they should do,” Kern said.
“They should have initiated a congressional inquiry just because there is enough evidence that calls into question whether she’s actually a citizen,” Kern added.
In 2019, Alpha News published a three-part series about Ilhan Omar.
Alpha News reached out to Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s office several times for this story, but did not receive a response.
Liz Collin
Liz Collin is a multi-Emmy-Award-winning investigative reporter, news anchor, and producer who cares about Minnesota. She is the producer of The Fall of Minneapolis and Minnesota v We the People documentary films, and author of the Amazon best-selling book, They’re Lying: The Media, the Left, and The Death of George Floyd. Her work has prompted important state laws. Yet perhaps most of all, Liz has been giving a voice to the truth—and helping others tell their stories—for more than 20 years.
Dr. JC Chaix
Dr. JC Chaix is an editor, educator, and an expert in media studies. He wrote and directed the Alpha News documentary "The Fall of Minneapolis" and "Minnesota v We the People."
