Democrats hammer Trump for late-election raid on Omar’s home

Democrats are up in arms this week after federal agents raided the home of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), accusing the Trump administration of weaponizing the government to go after political adversaries.

The Democrats are particularly piqued that the operation, conducted Monday morning by agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), took place just weeks before the Nov. 3 midterms. They’re denouncing Trump for defying a long-standing Justice Department policy discouraging the escalation of politically sensitive investigations within 60 days of elections.

“As Trump’s popularity craters amid rising prices and his deeply unpopular war, everything he does is an attempt to distract his remaining followers,” Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) wrote Monday on social platform X.

“But raiding the home of a member of the opposing party right before the election — and tipping off FoxNews in advance so they are on hand to publicize it — is insanely corrupt even for Donald Trump,” he continued.

In a joint statement, the top three House Democratic leaders — Reps. Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), Katherine Clark (Mass.) and Pete Aguilar (Calif.) — characterized the raid as a “deeply disturbing” extension of Trump’s long-running feud with Omar, a foreign-born Muslim congresswoman who is a frequent target of the right.

“For years, Donald Trump and far-right extremists have relentlessly targeted Congresswoman Omar with vile personal attacks and baseless accusations,” the Democratic leaders said in the statement. “Now, less than 30 days until the midterm election, his violent mass deportation machine has descended upon the home of a duly elected Member of Congress and her family.” 

The Democrats, who are favored to win control of the House in November, are vowing to investigate the Omar raid, among other cases they consider to be abuses of executive power, if they have the gavels next year. 

“The American people deserve transparency, and we will deliver full accountability for the rogue abuse of power from the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice,” Jeffries, Clark and Aguilar said. 

Monday’s raid was conducted before dawn at Omar’s Washington-area home by agents with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), a criminal unit of ICE. The operation came as the administration........

© The Hill