Rep. Ilhan Omar’s deleted 2013 Father’s Day post naming her father “Nur Said” has resurfaced amid a federal probe into her immigration records and long-denied claims she married her brother.
Federal agents searched Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Washington, D.C., residence on Oct. 12 as part of an ongoing criminal investigation into possible false statements on immigration and naturalization documents, and a newly resurfaced social media post is again drawing attention to the names surrounding her family. Fox News reported that recent court documents tied to the search warrant identify the Minnesota Democrat as “Ilhan Nur Said Elmi, aka Ilhan Abdullahi Omar.”
Omar told Fox News Digital her real name is Ilhan Abdullahi Omar. The filing does not explain why the alternate name appears and does not establish that she used a false identity. Two people familiar with the investigation told the outlet that Ilhan Nur Said Elmi may be her legal name. Her office disputed that characterization.
On Friday, Omar answered the name question directly.
She told Fox News Digital:
"Ilhan Abdullahi Omar, you know it,"
And again:
"It’s Ilhan Abdullahi Omar."
That statement lands against the court papers obtained by Fox News Digital, which list both names. The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment. Omar has denied wrongdoing and called the federal probe a political attack.
A former Minnesota federal immigration judge told Fox News Digital that if investigators prove she knowingly used a false name on federal forms, the conduct could be examined under the federal false statements statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1001. The judge said any case would depend on the specific documents, whether any misstatement was material, and evidence of intent. No charges are described as filed in the reporting.
In June 2013, a Father’s Day social media post attributed to Omar read:
"Happy Father’s Day to my aabo Nur Said, I am forever grateful to Allah for giving me the best father...,"
She deleted that post on the morning of Sept. 19, 2019. An archived version was first reported by the Daily Caller that same year. Omar’s office did not respond Friday when Fox News Digital asked about the deletion.
A statement attributed to her spokesperson and recirculated online said “Nur Said” was her father’s childhood nickname, that he kept a public page under that name, and that the post was removed because Omar and her family had received threats. Several records, including a Congressional Black Caucus memorial marking her father’s death in 2020, refer to him as “Nur Omar Mohamed.” Fox News has not independently verified claims that her father’s name is Nur Said Elmi Mohamed. A New York Post story on the father’s alleged military background quoted Oxford University historian Mohamed Haji Ingiriis referring to him as “Nur Said.”
Somali names typically run given name, father’s given name, then paternal grandfather’s given name. Similarity of names alone does not prove a family relationship. That cultural note sits beside the open question the deleted post raises for readers following the probe: why the same “Nur Said” string appears in her old tribute and in the name of her former husband.
Omar’s former husband is Ahmed Nur Said Elmi. The marriage ended in divorce in 2017. She legally married Ahmed Hirsi in 2018. For years, critics have alleged that Elmi is her brother. Omar and her office have repeatedly rejected that claim.
A spokesperson told Fox News Digital on Thursday that Omar has “repeatedly and unequivocally denied” the “baseless, disgusting conspiracy theory” that she married her brother.
On Wednesday, MS NOW asked whether her one-time husband may have been a “distant relative.” Omar answered:
"Not to my knowledge,"
The same stretch of days included a news conference in which she blamed President Donald Trump for death threats and attacks against her. Related reporting has described agents seizing a phone in the raid and investigators subpoenaing relatives. The core public record still centers on the search, the court-document naming, the deleted post, and her denials.
The verified sequence is short and sharp. A 2013 post calls her father “Nur Said.” The post vanishes in September 2019 after the Daily Caller surfaces the archive. Court papers tied to the October search list her as Ilhan Nur Said Elmi, also known as Ilhan Abdullahi Omar. She tells Fox News Digital the second name is the real one. Her office calls the brother-marriage story a conspiracy theory. She says she does not know her former husband to have been a distant relative. The Justice Department stays silent. A former immigration judge outlines how a proven false-name case could travel under federal false-statement law if intent and materiality are shown.
None of that equals a conviction. None of it proves the brother allegation. It does put the deleted tribute, the dual names on federal paper, and the immigration-document probe on the same table. Taxpayers and lawful immigrants fill out those forms under penalty of law. When a sitting member of Congress faces a search over possible false statements on the same class of papers, the public gets to examine the names she used, the names she deleted, and the names her lawyers now dispute.
Accountability starts with clear identities and honest filings. The deleted post and the court caption keep that standard in plain view.
