This is happening right now outside Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Washington, D.C., home.

A live exterior feed showed federal agents working at the residence and carrying material away as a criminal search moved into its afternoon hours.

To be precise, these were Homeland Security Investigations agents, not local police. HSI is the criminal-investigative arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The scene followed a pre-dawn search that began around 6 a.m. Eastern and quickly became one of the biggest political stories in Washington.

Video from outside the residence showed the federal presence early Monday morning:

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Fox News first reported that HSI searched Omar’s home as part of a criminal investigation involving her immigration paperwork. The outlet said the paperwork at issue was completed by Omar’s late father when she was a child.

Fox said a source familiar with the operation confirmed the early-morning search. Two additional sources had previously confirmed details of the investigation after Homan publicly acknowledged in September that a criminal inquiry involving Omar was underway.

The Justice Department confirmed that HSI executed a judicially authorized search warrant secured by the DOJ. Officials described the enforcement action as part of an ongoing federal investigation.

The report did not identify the suspected offense, disclose the warrant affidavit or announce any charge. It did establish that the search was connected to a real federal investigation, not a rumor or a political demand for one.

Agents arrived only after investigators presented a sworn application and persuaded a federal judge that the legal standard for a search had been met.

The search does not establish guilt, and Omar has not been charged with a crime.

Even so, a judge-approved search of a congresswoman’s home is a serious investigative step no matter how loudly her political allies try to wave it away.

The new footage gave the public a look at the operation well after the first reports broke. Agents could be seen moving items away from the residence while cameras remained trained on the scene:

The video appears to show agents carrying bags and other material from the property. The government has not released an inventory identifying what was taken, so nobody outside the investigation can responsibly say what each item contains or how it may relate to the case.

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CBS News independently confirmed the search through three sources familiar with the investigation, giving the story a second national-source confirmation beyond the original Fox report. Its account said HSI is leading the case with assistance from the Justice Department and identified the operation as a criminal investigation rather than a routine civil immigration action.

The network’s sources said the inquiry centers on immigration documents dating to Omar’s childhood, including paperwork completed by her late father. That tracks with the core details first reported by Fox News.

CBS also explained why HSI’s presence matters. This was not a routine immigration-enforcement visit.

HSI special agents investigate federal crimes, including immigration-document fraud, identity fraud and immigration-benefit fraud. Those agents also execute federal search warrants in criminal cases.

The Justice Department confirmed to CBS that the search warrant was secured by DOJ and was part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation.

The report also placed Monday’s search against the public timeline. Border czar Tom Homan confirmed in September that an investigation involving Omar was underway, while Omar said at the time that federal authorities had not contacted her.

CBS reported no arrest and no public criminal charge. Its account also made clear that HSI, rather than an ordinary deportation team, is the federal unit directing the case and handling the search.

That distinction helps explain the scale of the scene outside the residence. The agents were carrying out a criminal-search operation backed by a federal warrant, with DOJ assisting the investigative team.

The precise offense under investigation has not been publicly identified. The warrant affidavit remains sealed, and neither DOJ nor HSI has announced an arrest or criminal charge against Omar.

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That has not stopped the political reaction.

Omar and her office immediately accused the Trump administration of targeting a political opponent.

According to Axios, Omar said she was fine and called the search an attempt to weaponize federal law enforcement. The outlet also obtained responses from Omar’s office and House Democratic leaders, documenting the coordinated political pushback that followed DOJ’s confirmation of the federal search.

Her office said she had done nothing wrong. Democratic leaders also attacked the timing because the search came less than a month before the midterm election.

Axios reported that DOJ confirmed the same core fact: HSI executed a judicially authorized warrant secured by the Justice Department as part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation. DHS referred questions about the operation back to DOJ.

The outlet said Omar came to the United States as a 12-year-old refugee in 1995. Fox News has reported that investigators are examining paperwork completed by her late father during that period.

Omar’s office called the search an abuse of power, while House Democratic leaders issued their own condemnation. None of those responses disputed that agents had a judge-approved warrant or that a federal criminal investigation exists.

Those claims deserve the same answer every American hears when federal agents arrive with a warrant: the process will follow the evidence.

Omar and her defenders are free to challenge the search in court. They are free to attack the affidavit once it becomes public.

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What they cannot honestly claim is that a court-authorized federal search is nothing more than a social-media rumor.

One reaction circulating Monday revived Omar’s own words about accountability:

The phrase lands because the standard is correct: no one is above the law.

Fournier’s description goes further than the public record currently supports, however. Federal officials have confirmed an investigation and a search warrant.

They have not announced that Omar committed immigration fraud.

That distinction protects the integrity of the case. It does not make the footage any less extraordinary.

Americans are watching federal agents move through the home of a sitting member of Congress under authority granted by a judge. If investigators found evidence of a crime, the public deserves the truth and equal enforcement of the law.

If they did not, Omar will have every opportunity to fight back through the courts.

For now, the cameras outside her house are documenting a dramatic fact that spin cannot erase: the investigation is real, the search happened, and federal agents were still carrying material away.

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.

 

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