Barack Obama has spoken out against the Trump administration’s investigation of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, after the president’s border czar said federal officials could “of course” strip her of citizenship and deport her.
The former president posted the statement on X on Sunday morning. He wrote that “the full weight of the federal government is being brought down on a law-abiding elected official because she has dared to criticize the president.”
Obama urged Americans to defend Omar regardless of their political views. “If this becomes the new normal, there’s no reason to believe it will stop with her, or that future presidents, in either party, won’t do the same,” he added.
The row began on Saturday, when Tom Homan, the White House border czar, was asked on Fox News whether the probe into Omar could end with “denaturalizing and then deporting her”. Homan answered: “Of course.”
“If you lie during the naturalization process, there is a process to denaturalize somebody,” Homan said. “It’s a long, tedious process, but it’s been done before. And certainly, if the evidence points that way, that could happen.”
Homeland Security agents raided Omar’s home on 12 October as part of an inquiry into her family’s immigration paperwork. The Wall Street Journal reported that officials are building a case that could lead to her citizenship being revoked and her deportation. Omar has not been charged with a crime and denies any wrongdoing.
Homan said Omar would be held to the same standard as anyone under investigation, telling Fox: “We’ll let the evidence see where it leads.”
Source: The Guardian
