Vice President JD Vance accused Rep. Ilhan Omar of committing immigration fraud and said the Trump administration is actively exploring ways to pursue the case as part of a push to investigate fraud across the country.
“We actually think that Ilhan Omar definitely committed immigration fraud against the United States of America,” Vance said, raising the allegation during an interview while discussing the administration’s ongoing enforcement efforts.
He said conversations are already underway inside the administration about what steps could be taken.
“I talked to Stephen Miller about this recently, we’re trying to look at what the remedies are,” Vance said.
🚨 BREAKING: Vice President JD Vance Officially CONFIRMS that Rep. Ilhan Omar Committed Immigration Fraud:
“Ilhan Omar definitely committed immigration fraud against the United States of America”
The VP says the White House is going to “go after” Omar for these crimes.
“What… pic.twitter.com/01Kwd3kKMR
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) March 27, 2026
“What are the legal remedies now that we know she’s committed immigration fraud? How do you go after her?”
Vance framed the issue as part of a wider effort to address what he described as systemic abuse tied to federal programs and immigration enforcement gaps.
“The American people deserve better than being ripped off by people who hate this country,” he added.
The allegations against Omar have circulated for years, including claims that she married her biological brother to help him obtain legal status. Omar has repeatedly denied those accusations, calling them “absurd and offensive.”
She came to the United States as a refugee in 1995 and became a citizen in 2000 at age 17. Years later, she married Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, a British citizen, in 2009. Critics have pointed to that marriage as part of the alleged fraud scheme, though Omar has rejected those claims.
The two separated in 2011 and divorced in 2017. Before that marriage, Omar had been in a religious union with Ahmed Hirsi, the father of her children, though the relationship was never legally formalized.
Vance did not limit his comments to those longstanding allegations. He also pointed to broader concerns tied to fraud investigations in Minnesota, particularly within parts of the Somali community in Minneapolis.
“I’m worried about the immigration fraud,” he said. “I’m also worried about what did Ilhan Omar know about what was happening in the Somali community, and why was nobody looking into it until, frankly, Donald Trump came along?”
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Federal prosecutors have uncovered large-scale fraud schemes in Minnesota in recent years, with investigations resulting in numerous convictions. Many of those cases have been tied to programs involving childcare and autism services, where officials say millions of dollars were misused.
Vance said those cases reflect a deeper problem with how fraud is handled across the country.
“We do not prosecute fraud in this country if it’s under $1.5 million dollars per year,” he stated. “We’re going to change that.”
This just BLEW my mind.
JD Vance Revealed that the US Government does not Even Prosecute FRAUD Under $1.5 Million Dollars.
"We do not prosecute fraud in this country if it's under $1.5 million dollars per year!”
"One of the things we are trying to do with this task force is… pic.twitter.com/wCdyj1NiNA
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) March 27, 2026
He outlined a new approach centered on identifying larger fraud networks and targeting individuals who operate at scale.
The administration recently launched an anti-fraud task force to coordinate those efforts. Vance hosted the group’s first meeting Friday, joined by senior officials including Stephen Miller, Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson, and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.
The meeting opened with remarks from administration officials before continuing behind closed doors.
“We think fraud has been a problem for a long time,” Vance said. “It became a massive, massive problem under the Biden administration.”
He argued that enforcement mechanisms had been weakened and said the administration intends to restore those controls.
“We’re going to turn back on those anti-fraud protections so that all of these Cabinet officials are looking at what’s going on and focusing on it,” he commented.
Miller backed that assessment, describing what he called widespread weaknesses in how benefits programs are administered.
“I think what’s important for Americans to understand is how pervasive and widespread the fraud is,” Miller said. “Most citizens probably assume that there’s some verification process that takes place.”
He said that assumption does not match reality in many cases.
“The reality is that there is not,” Miller said, arguing that programs in some states rely heavily on trust rather than verification.
Miller singled out conditions in Minnesota, pointing to high-profile fraud cases as an example of what can happen when oversight fails.
He described scenarios where individuals allegedly obtained benefits without adequate checks, contrasting that with working-class residents who fund those programs through taxes.
“Imagine in a community, a working-class community in the Twin Cities,” Miller remarked.
He said the current structure leaves room for large-scale abuse and called for stricter controls across federal programs.
Minnesota has remained a focal point for the administration following a multibillion-dollar fraud investigation tied to childcare and autism-related services.
Dozens of individuals have been charged or convicted in connection with those schemes, which prosecutors say involved coordinated efforts to siphon funds from government programs.
“What we’ve seen is fraudsters at an industrial scale,” Vance remarked. “Taking advantage of that program to the tune of millions and millions of dollars.”
He described two consequences stemming from those cases.
“The first tragedy is that you have people who pay into the federal government … expecting that those taxes will go to help their fellow citizens,” he said.
He argued that those expectations have been undermined by fraud that went undetected for extended periods.
President Donald Trump moved earlier this month to formalize the administration’s response, signing an executive order establishing the anti-fraud task force.
.@VP: "What this executive order does is force the entire apparatus of the federal government to do two things: stop the fraud of the American taxpayer, and make sure that the benefits that ought, by right, go to American citizens, go to American citizens, and not to fraudsters." https://t.co/G8xIyQk9VV pic.twitter.com/OMumxv8coj
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 16, 2026
The directive calls for a national strategy to address waste, fraud, and abuse across federal benefit programs, including those tied to housing, food assistance, and medical care.
According to a White House fact sheet, the task force will focus on improving eligibility verification, implementing pre-payment controls, and identifying high-risk fraud patterns.
It also directs agencies to develop minimum anti-fraud standards, including documentation requirements and audit procedures.
“What this executive order does is force the entire apparatus of the federal government to do two things,” Vance said when the order was announced.
“Stop the fraud of the American taxpayer, and make sure that the benefits that ought, by right, go to American citizens, go to American citizens, and not to fraudsters.”
