President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Rep. Ilhan Omar could face jail in addition to deportation, calling the Minnesota Democrat "a disgrace to our country" as she faces a federal investigation into allegations involving her citizenship. Trump made the remarks inside the Oval Office during his fraud incentive program announcement, responding to a question from Fox Business correspondent Edward Lawrence about whether a problem with Omar's age could lead to her deportation, according to Fox News.
"Well, she could be. She could also go to jail," Trump said. "You know, they keep talking about deportation. No, she could go to jail." The president did not identify a specific criminal charge or present new evidence. "This is just my opinion," Trump added, before calling the congresswoman "a very dishonest person" who "hates our country." His comments came after border czar Tom Homan said Omar could lose her citizenship and be deported if investigators prove immigration fraud, and after federal agents searched her Washington, D.C., home on October 12, seizing her cellphone.
Former President Barack Obama released a lengthy statement condemning the investigation, calling the administration's targeting of Omar "appalling." The Wall Street Journal reported that the inquiry aims to build a case to strip Omar of her U.S. citizenship and initiate deportation proceedings. Obama noted that Omar arrived in the United States as a refugee alongside her father when she was 12 and automatically became a citizen at 17 when her father was naturalized, and he labeled the investigators' working theory that she was actually 18 at the time "unsubstantiated." Omar has denied wrongdoing and called the investigation political persecution.