Megyn Kelly Says Ilhan Omar May Be an 'Illegal Alien' Serving in Congress

Megyn Kelly said Friday that Representative Ilhan Omar may not be a U.S. citizen. She argued that the federal investigation into the Minnesota Democrat could turn on whether Omar or her father ever naturalized, not just on errors in their paperwork.

"This is potentially huge. We may have a non-citizen, an illegal alien serving in the US Congress," Kelly said on The Megyn Kelly Show. She also hedged. "I don't know whether that's true," she said at one point, and later: "Maybe there's no there there. Truly, I'm open-minded, but I want to see the paperwork."

Homeland Security Investigations agents searched Omar's Washington home on Monday, and the Justice Department said the search was part of an ongoing criminal investigation. ABC News reported that the probe concerns Omar's immigration paperwork. Omar has not been charged. She called the search "an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement" and has denied wrongdoing.

The A.J. Kern Records Claim

Much of Kelly's case rested on A.J. Kern, a former congressional candidate who challenged Omar in a primary. Kelly played a clip from an interview Kern gave conservative commentator Benny Johnson. In it, Kern said a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services letter dated June 20, 2023, reported that a search "using all variations of her father's name, there's no naturalization records." "So in September, in 2023, I received a certificate of non-existence of record from DHS," she added.

A state judge dismissed a lawsuit Kern filed demanding proof of Omar's citizenship, ruling that the court lacked jurisdiction, Fox News reported. Kelly said her show had asked DHS about Kern's claims and had been referred to the Justice Department.

Megyn Kelly Disputes the Washington Post

Kelly also attacked a Washington Post report on a 2019 Homeland Security review of Omar. She said the review had found insufficient evidence of wrongdoing, and she was unpersuaded. "Insufficient is a judgment call," she said. She called the former officials who spoke to the paper "Democrats who were part of a left-wing piece of the administration that Trump inherited, who were on Team Omar." She offered no evidence for that description. She also asked: "And why doesn't the Washington Post deal with AJ Kern at all, at all?"

Kelly cited a podcast by Andrew McCarthy, a National Review columnist and former federal prosecutor. In her words, McCarthy was suggesting that Omar's father "may never have been naturalized at all, which would mean Ilhan Omar was never naturalized at all." She found it suspicious that a refugee could become a citizen within five years. Under federal law, however, a refugee who gets a green card is counted as a permanent resident from the date of arrival, and the general naturalization requirement is five years as a permanent resident.

What the Law Says About Age and Time Limits

Omar has said she became a citizen before she turned 18, and in 2019 her staff asked a Minnesota legislative library to change her listed birth year from 1981 to 1982, Fox News reported. Kelly said the family's account is that her father naturalized in 2000. "If she was actually 18, she would have been required to go through the immigration process independently," Kelly said.

Today's rule, 8 U.S.C. §1431, lets a lawful permanent resident under 18 derive citizenship when one parent naturalizes. But it came from the Child Citizenship Act of 2000, took effect on Feb. 27, 2001, and covers only people who were under 18 on that date. Omar, born in 1981 or 1982, was not, so a naturalization in 2000 would be judged under the law that came before it.

The Constitution requires House members to have been citizens for seven years. Most naturalization crimes carry a 10-year limit, but civil denaturalization has none. Kelly made the same point, saying a case could proceed "in the civil lane because there's no statute of limitations on suing her civilly to deport her."

Megyn Kelly Turns to Omar's Finances

Kelly said Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for D.C., was reportedly examining a disclosure "where she went from making 51,000 in one year to 30 million the next, and then back down to peanuts."

House disclosures list assets in ranges. In 2023, the two businesses owned by Omar's husband, Tim Mynett, were reported at no more than $51,000 combined. In 2024, they were reported at between $6 million and $30 million, according to Fox News. Omar's 2025 report valued both businesses at zero. Her office said the earlier filing "mistakenly reflected the businesses' total equity rather than his ownership interest." Those figures are assets, not income.

What Happens Next

The Justice Department has not said what the warrant covers or whether charges will follow. Kelly said documents could settle the question. "But if you become a naturalized U.S. citizen, you have paperwork. So let's see it," she said. She said the stakes were simple: "if she's not a U.S. citizen, she's out of the U.S. Congress."