WASHINGTON D.C. – In a heated Oval Office clash that has dragged one of the Trump era’s most divisive sagas back into the spotlight, President Donald J. Trump on Friday branded Minnesota Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar a “disgrace” who does not deserve public attention, bluntly declaring, “I don’t want to hear from Ilhan Omar, not one word.”
His attack came as long-running accusations against the congresswoman reappeared in the headlines. Critics again claim that Omar, a fierce opponent of Trump’s immigration stance, carried out marriage fraud by marrying her own brother to help him gain U.S. citizenship. Those charges, which resurfaced this week alongside contested “DNA proof,” have sparked uproar on Capitol Hill and deep unease within the Somali-American community.
Speaking to reporters after a cabinet session on border security, Trump spoke with clear anger. “She’s wrapped in that swaddling hijab, always whining about America while her own country is a hellhole, no police, no schools, only chaos,” he said, his tone rising as aides shuffled briefing folders across the table. “And now this brother-marriage stuff? It’s proven. She’s here illegally. We should get her the hell out. I don’t want to hear from her. Period. She should go back to Somalia and sort that mess out.”
The remarks, delivered in classic Trump style, part outrage and part performance, drew loud cheers from his supporters present at the White House. Democrats responded within minutes, slamming the comments as “xenophobic fearmongering” that targets immigrants and Muslims.
Ilhan Omar’s Alleged Marriage to Brother
The dispute originated in 2009, when Omar, then a 27-year-old community organiser from Minnesota’s Somali community, legally married Ahmed Nur Said Elmi in a short civil ceremony in Hennepin County. The couple split in 2017. Rumours of wrongdoing, however, had already begun to swirl during Omar’s 2016 run for the Minnesota legislature.
Anonymous posters on SomaliSpot, an online forum popular with Minnesota’s Somali diaspora, accused Omar of a sham marriage. They claimed Elmi, a British citizen and artist who later studied at North Dakota State University, was her biological brother and that the marriage existed only to bypass immigration rules and create a route to U.S. residency for him.
Omar, the first Somali Muslim woman elected to Congress and a founding member of “The Squad”, has consistently rejected the story as a “disgusting lie” rooted in anti-Muslim and racist hostility. In a 2016 statement, she described her personal life, including an earlier religious marriage to political consultant Ahmed Hirsi, the father of her three children, as “a difficult personal chapter” that has nothing to do with her role as an elected official.
Federal agencies, including the FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, carried out reviews in 2020. They examined tax returns, marriage licences, and travel records, but did not uncover clear proof of wrongdoing. No charges were brought.
Alleged DNA Proof
Fact-checkers such as Snopes and PolitiFact rated the claims as “unfounded”, stressing that there were no birth certificates, family testimony, or reliable forensic records firmly tying Elmi to Omar’s immediate family.
That uneasy pause collapsed this autumn. In November, as Trump stepped up his second-term offensive against “chain migration” and rolled out a sweeping ban on entries from what he called “third-world” nations, including Somalia, he revived the allegation in a post on Truth Social.
“Ilhan Omar… who probably came into the USA illegally in that you are not allowed to marry your brother, does nothing but hatefully complain,” he wrote, while calling Minnesota Governor Tim Walz “seriously retarded” for not acting.
The post drew millions of views and reignited a February 2025 burst of tabloid coverage that claimed “DNA proof” had surfaced via a murky group linked to Republican activists.
Reports in outlets such as the Daily Mail alleged a 99.99% DNA match between Omar, Elmi, and her late father, Nur Said Mohamed. Commentators seized on the link with Elmi’s full name, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, echoing Somali naming customs in which children use a parent’s names as middle identifiers.
Sceptics quickly pointed out that these DNA claims rested on shaky foundations. The supposed evidence came from a deleted SomaliSpot thread, archived Instagram shots where Elmi appeared in family photos labelled as an “uncle”, and sworn statements from unnamed “community friends” quoted in a 2020 Daily Mail story.
“This is recycled conspiracy fodder,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), a close ally of Omar, in a statement on Friday. “No court, no lab, no credible expert has confirmed any of this. It’s a tool to silence immigrant voices.”
Crowds Chant: Send Her Back
Conservative activists refused to back off. Scott W. Johnson of Power Line, the blogger who first pushed the story in 2019, returned to the subject in a lengthy Washington Free Beacon feature on Thursday.
“After years of digging, the evidence is overwhelming,” Johnson argued, pointing to timelines of Omar’s overlapping relationships, joint tax returns with Hirsi filed while she was still legally married to Elmi, and Elmi’s swift move into U.S. education shortly after the wedding. “Without DNA on the main players, belief fills the gap, and the clues shout sibling.”
The story took a fresh turn on Wednesday, when the New York Post highlighted an active Instagram profile (@ahmednelmi) linked to a 40-year-old Elmi living in Cape Town, South Africa. The feed, a polished mix of abstract artwork and travel scenes, includes subtle references to Minnesota, such as an old image of Fargo’s skyline tagged #NDSUAlum, but nothing that mentions Omar by name.
“He’s the ghost in the machine,” said one Republican strategist, speaking anonymously. Elmi’s online presence and overseas life renewed speculation about why he has stayed out of public view and why he appears to avoid any discussion of his past.
Trump seized on the moment during a noisy rally in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday night, where around 5,000 supporters waved flags and revived the “Send her back!” chant first heard in 2019.
“Can you imagine if I married my sister? Beautiful woman, but no!” Trump shouted, to loud laughter. “Ilhan Omar, whatever the hell her name is, with her little turban, she married her brother to get in. That means she’s here illegally. She should get the hell out!”
He then shifted to policy, blaming “Omar-types” for rising housing prices and pressure on welfare programmes, tying his personal attacks on the congresswoman to a broader assault on immigration policy. In a follow-up interview with Politico, he added, “I don’t want to see a woman that marries her brother… All she does is complain, complain, complain.”
Omar Could Face Charges
Omar responded from her office on Capitol Hill, sounding calm but clearly angry. “This obsession is beyond weird,” she wrote on X, drawing 2 million views in a matter of hours. “Trump recycles bigoted lies because he has no vision for America, just hate. My family fled war; we built a life here legally. Demand better from your president.”
Her allies rallied behind her. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called for a formal ethics review of what he labelled Trump’s “defamatory rants.” The Council on American-Islamic Relations said the attacks marked “a dangerous escalation of anti-Muslim bigotry” and warned they were putting Muslim elected officials at greater risk.
Legal specialists are split on what could happen next. If the DNA stories turned out to be accurate, which remains a major question since no chain-of-custody records have been produced, Omar might face charges under 8 U.S.C. § 1325(c) for marriage fraud, a felony that carries a potential sentence of up to five years in prison and deportation.
Minnesota’s incest law, section 609.365, could add another layer of criminal exposure, with penalties of up to 10 years in prison. Without authorised DNA tests or cooperation from Elmi himself, however, most analysts see prosecution as very unlikely. “It’s circumstantial at best,” said David Bier, an immigration lawyer with the Cato Institute. “Trump is using rumour for ratings, but courts demand proper evidence.”
As the White House drives ahead with a plan for mass deportations, with 500,000 people reportedly targeted in the first 100 days, Omar’s case has become a symbol of the country’s deep divide over immigration and identity. It pits an outspoken refugee lawmaker against a president building his campaign around hard borders and suspicion of outsiders.
Whether concrete forensic proof ever appears, or the story stays trapped in the world of partisan warfare, remains unclear. For now, Trump’s order stands: Omar should stay silent. Yet on X, Truth Social, and across the media, her words and the fierce argument around them continue to echo loudly.
