Investigators found evidence 10 years ago that Ilhan Omar was in 'sham' marriage with brother, according to multiple reports

Ilhan Omar and her purported brother, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi.

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar was in a "sham" marriage with her brother, federal investigators knew about it as early as 2016 and the case was shut down shortly after Joe Biden took office in 2021, according to multiple new reports.

Both The New York Times and The New York Post reported on Thursday that the investigation into Omar is centered on whether she fraudulently married her brother, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, in 2009 in order to help him acquire a green card. DHS and FBI officials looked into the marriage in 2016, during the Obama administration, and both found evidence that the marriage was fraudulent, officials close to the investigation told the Times. 

The New York Post reported that a source with knowledge of the current investigation said the “Biden US Attorney in Minnesota shut it down” in early 2021 after Joe Biden was sworn in, ending the investigation launched by the Obama DHS and FBI. Omar has long denied that she married her brother, despite numerous claims over the years since she entered state and then national politics. The veracity of the date she's given as her birthday has also come under scrutiny, which could determine whether immigration fraud was committed in order to naturalize her as a citizen. 

One hurdle investigators and prosecutors will need to navigate, according to the Times, is an expired statue of limitations. One way to do that would be to present the case a conspiracy to commit immigration fraud among her family, a case that could have a wider scope that would open the door to Omar being denaturalized and, potentially, deported eventually. 

Federal investigators raided Omar's Washington, D.C., home earlier this month and in addition to seizing numerous items and speaking with her sister, they've also obtained a sample of the congresswoman's DNA. Omar was asked during an MS Now interview last week whether she'd married her brother. "Not to my knowledge," was her response.