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Hiiraan Online Today from Hiiraan Online: Somali Music advertisements Republican lawmakers seek DOJ investigation into Ilhan Omar’s U.S. citizenship FacebookFacebook messengerTwitterWhatsAppLinkedInTelegramEmail Monday October 27, 2025 FILE PHOTOS — U.S. Representatives Randy Fine of Florida (left) and Andy Ogles of Tennessee (right) have called on the Justice Department to investigate the citizenship of Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar. Both lawmakers, known for their conservative stances, have introduced or supported measures targeting naturalized citizens. Mogadishu (HOL) — Two Republican lawmakers have urged the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the citizenship of Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar, a Somali-born lawmaker whose progressive views and outspoken criticism of U.S. foreign policy have made her a frequent target of conservative attacks. The request, led by Rep. Randy Fine of Florida and Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee, follows growing Republican calls to review the citizenship of naturalized Americans. Both lawmakers allege that some immigrants may have violated U.S. naturalization laws and should face denaturalization if found to have provided false information. Fine, who won a special election in April 2025 to represent Florida’s 6th District, has drawn national attention for his hardline pro-Israel stance and inflammatory remarks about Muslims and Palestinians. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) labelled Fine an anti-Muslim extremist in June after he repeatedly called for violence against Palestinians, at one point urging Israel to “nuke Gaza.” Despite that record, Fine has maintained support from major corporate PACs, including Boeing and Comcast, according to campaign finance disclosures. Last week, Fine introduced H.R. 5817, a bill that would bar individuals holding foreign citizenship from being elected to Congress. In a post on X, he wrote that “America has clearly suffered from massive naturalization fraud,” calling for the Justice Department to “review every naturalization of the past 30 years—starting with Zohran Mamdani, Ilhan Omar, and Mehdi Hasan.” Ogles, a member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, echoed Fine’s call and accused New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, a Ugandan-born lawmaker, of obtaining citizenship “through willful misrepresentation.” Earlier this year, Ogles described Mamdani as an “antisemitic, socialist, communist” who “needs to be deported,” language that Muslim and civil rights groups condemned as xenophobic. He has now extended those accusations to Omar, citing her criticism of Israel and U.S. foreign policy as grounds for a federal investigation. Omar, who represents Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, fled Somalia during the country’s civil war and resettled in the United States as a refugee. She became a U.S. citizen in 2000 and, in 2018, one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress alongside Michigan’s Rashida Tlaib. A member of the progressive “Squad,” Omar has been an outspoken critic of military intervention abroad and has called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “war criminal” for the ongoing conflict in Gaza. The Justice Department has not commented on the lawmakers’ request. Advocacy organizations, including CAIR and the Muslim Public Affairs Council, denounced the call as politically motivated, describing it as part of a coordinated effort to delegitimize Muslim and immigrant voices in U.S. politics. Political analysts note that the push to question Omar’s citizenship mirrors the “birther” rhetoric once used against former President Barack Obama, a strategy widely condemned as racially and religiously charged. They also point out that denaturalization in the United States is extremely rare and can occur only when deliberate deception during the naturalization process is proven in court. The controversy signals a growing cultural divide in American politics, where loyalty tests and identity-based attacks have increasingly supplanted policy debates. While Fine and Ogles argue that their proposals safeguard national security, critics view them as an attempt to marginalize minority representation in Congress. Opinion| Privacy Policy|Sports|Somali Music|Somali Map All Rights Reserved Copyright. © 1999-2025, www.hiiraan.com
