House Majority Whip Tom Emmer says Rep. Ilhan Omar should go to prison and then be removed from the country if the allegations at the center of the federal investigation into her citizenship are proven true.
"I would say first she should probably serve time in the gray bar motel and then get the hell out of here. She should go back to where she came from," Emmer — the No. 3 Republican in the House, and a fellow Minnesotan — told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview published Saturday. "If it's determined that she lied to gain citizenship, then absolutely, she should go back to the front of the line."
"That judge had to determine that there was probable cause that a federal crime has been committed… maybe after all these years, someone is finally going to hold Ilhan Omar accountable."
The investigation centers on allegations that Omar or her father lied about her birth year on immigration paperwork. Her father became a U.S. citizen in 2000, and Omar — believed to have been 17 at the time — gained citizenship automatically as a minor. Investigators are now examining claims that she was actually 18, which would have made that path to citizenship invalid. A federal judge found probable cause and signed off on the search warrant executed at her home.
Omar has fired back on X, calling the raid "an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement" and vowing, "I will not be silenced." House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his deputies issued a joint statement calling the raid "deeply disturbing" and a "corrupt weaponization of the federal government against Donald Trump's adversaries."
Emmer's comments raise the political temperature around a case that is still an allegation, not a conviction. But they also mark the first time a member of House Republican leadership has said out loud what the endgame should be if the claims hold up — prison first, then removal: "She should go back to where she came from."
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