Why Criminal Prosecution Might Be The Least Of Ilhan Omar’s Legal Concerns
By: By Matthew Kolken
The Department of Justice has reportedly assigned an FBI special agent to work with Immigration and Customs and Enforcement and the Department of Education Inspector General Charge to investigate Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) for alleged criminal violations relating to perjury, immigration fraud, marriage fraud, state and federal tax fraud, federal student loan fraud, and bigamy.
As an immigration lawyer, the very first question that came to mind when I read these reports was what immigration consequences, if any, could attach in the event that any of the above allegations are proven beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. My analysis, unfortunately, has resulted in more unanswerable questions than definitive answers.
My analysis started with the fact that it is widely known Omar was born in Somalia, and immigrated to the United States as a Somalian refugee. At some point after her admission to the country, she obtained U.S. citizenship. The Associated Press reported on November 5, 2009 , that Omar fled Somalia to a refugee camp in Kenya with her family in 1991. She ultimately immigrated to the United States as a refugee in 1995.
If this report is correct, the analysis is fairly straightforward. Generally speaking, U.S. immigration law permits refugees to apply for permanent residence, commonly known as a “green card,” one-year after arrival. Five years after holding a green card, refugees may then apply to become a citizen through a process called naturalization.
Naturalization applicants must show they meet residency requirements, and have good moral character. It was reported that Omar became a citizen in 2000, five years after her arrival, at the age of 17.
This last detail is important, and is where things start to get murky. If Omar became a U.S. citizen at the age of 17, she must have obtained it through automatic acquisition after the naturalization of at least one of her parents. Omar would not have been able to apply for citizenship on her own because individuals are ineligible to apply for naturalization until age 18.
Here is where it gets really complicated. The requirements for automatic acquisition have changed several times throughout the last century. The marital status of Omar’s parents would determine whether she could have acquired citizenship. I have no details about their marital status to be able to determine if these legal requirements were fulfilled.
However, if Omar did not have to apply for naturalization, it could eliminate one possible crime that she could be charged with: knowingly giving false information in furtherance of an application for citizenship. A conviction for this crime would lead to her denaturalization, resulting in the loss of citizenship, and the institution of removal proceedings to deport her.
But the analysis doesn’t stop there. For Omar to have automatically acquired citizenship, she must also have been lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence, and there are reports questioning the legality of her admission as a refugee.
David Steinberg has covered the Omar saga for several years and has openly questioned whether she is who she says she is. Steinberg has alleged that Omar assumed her name from an unrelated family that was being granted refugee status. Although I have no way to independently assess the veracity of this report, there is circumstantial evidence that this type of immigration fraud was rampant in the circumstances under which Omar was admitted to the United States.
Specifically, in 2009 the Obama administration assessed the viability of re-employing a Bush-era pilot program that unearthed widespread immigration fraud. It found that as many as 87 percent of applications claiming familial relationship were fraudulent. If the reports are ultimately found true, the immigration consequences would be severe, including loss of citizenship and the institution of removal proceedings. Moreover, there may be no defenses to removal in an immigration court setting to stop her deportation.
Assuming arguendo that it is determined that Omar is not a citizen of the United States, and if she is convicted for any of the crimes she is allegedly being investigated for, there would be bars from most forms of relief from removal. Most crimes relating to fraud constitute a crime involving moral turpitude, which would preclude Omar from applying for cancellation of removal as an immigrant who holds no status in the United States.
If she is convicted for tax evasion where loss to the government exceeds $10,000, she will be removable for having an aggravated felony conviction, which also precludes her from applying for asylum. If she is convicted for marriage fraud, she would be ineligible to be sponsored if she were to marry a U.S. citizen. Needless to say, the worst-case scenario is very bleak.
That said, I have more questions than answers, but my preliminary analysis is that Omar is in need of competent immigration counsel to ensure that there is no threat of her losing her citizenship, or, worse, the prospect of deportation back to a country she fled as a child.
Putting aside the insidious fact that this woman was somehow elected, there may be a serious problem with our vetting process for refugees.
Rules of civility apply
Sorry, this deflection from Trump's truly impeachable crimes just doesn't hold water.
Obstruction of "Congress" ?
Like that's NEVER ever …… EVER …… happened before.
Off Topic.
I have an article on that.
This does not even take into account the voter base that got her elected. That is more than questionable in it's own right!
You don't know how much I would like to see an accurate profile of that district. Could it resemble New York's 14th district which is more immigrant that native?
From all I have seen and heard, that is exactly the case in Omar's district. Basically she won because no significant GOP opposition was running against her. Looks like a big change in 2020. Seems a fair number of folks in her district are getting fed up with her and want a change. I have seen at least two or three conservatives that are running against her. Hope people wake up make sure Omar is a one term mistake and vote her out.
Even a moderate democrat running against her would be welcome. There is something fundamentally wrong with both parties when it comes to candidate recruitment.
That I strongly suspected
kind of like Little Havana in Florida.
Not really. The people of Little Havana assimilated the day they arrived. They are an American asset
When I lived in Maple Grove (NW corner of the Twin Cities area) about the only thing that came out of there were cab drivers and thieves.
And I'll bet the cab drivers are the ones who didn't vote.
I did know how you meant it, I just had to mark the difference for all reading this.
I doubt that. They were hauled into court by the 'authorities' because they refused to carry people with animals (seeing eye dogs at the time) and any they perceived as Jew. They also were caught asking passengers (before they got in the cab) if they were carrying pork products. That made them refuse service. Yeah, they're not very well liked by many in the TC area.
Wow! Only in Obama's America!
Drain the swamp
Bad decisions come easy for people who decide to marry their brother.
She didn't marry her brother.
Even the US State Department, DoJ, federal/state/local law enforcement agencies, MSM, and Snopes cannot confirm your statement.
What kinds of concerns did Ms. Omar have in the first place, least of all criminal?
According to the DOJ - "alleged criminal violations relating to perjury, immigration fraud, marriage fraud, state and federal tax fraud, federal student loan fraud, and bigamy."
Those kind of concerns
"LIVE LONG.....AND STAY POOR" !
That can also be a valid interpretation.
The "Rich" always stick their pinkies out and say "Fuck the Poor".
At least that's what the "Left" says they do anyway.
Omar is a Snob !
Will Malenia face the same scrutiny? She entered the country on a tourist visa and then worked as a professional model which was a violation of the therms of her visa.
Tacky as some of her photo shoots were, she was a professional model who made a tidy sum.