CNN: Legal experts say stripping Rep. Ilhan Omar of her citizenship would not be easy

CNN reported on October 17, in a report updated October 18, that legal experts say the path for the federal government to attempt to strip Rep. Ilhan Omar of her citizenship would not be an easy one.

CNN said sources told it that the search of Omar's Washington home earlier that week was related to an immigration-fraud probe investigating whether Omar's father lied about her age when she obtained her citizenship in 2000. CNN said Omar has not been charged with a crime, the Justice Department has not revealed any evidence against her, and the government has not yet indicated it will take steps to attempt to strip her of her citizenship.

Daniel Kanstroom, a Boston College professor who teaches immigration law, told CNN that citizenship has long been considered "a kind of a safe harbor." He said: "It's hard to get, but once you get it, the standard for the government to take it away is really, really high."

CNN said the second Trump administration has filed more than 160 civil denaturalization cases in 2026 as of September 28, according to an analysis by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, compared with 116 civil denaturalization lawsuits filed between 2008 and 2024.

CNN said there is no statute of limitations for civil denaturalization proceedings, while criminal prosecution for naturalization fraud is generally subject to a 10-year time limit after a person becomes a citizen. CNN said that route would therefore likely not apply in a case against Omar, who obtained her citizenship more than two decades ago. The report also said investigators were examining whether false statements may have been repeated in recent government documents, such as a passport, and could be considered a continuation of suspected fraud.

Peter Loblack, an Orlando-based immigration attorney, told CNN that contested denaturalizations typically take between one and three years in district court, not including appeals. CNN said a denaturalized citizen would revert to their most recent status, typically lawful permanent resident, and the government would then have to seek deportation through a separate proceeding.

CNN said that, at the time of its report, the criminal investigation was continuing. It said more than a dozen media organizations and Judicial Watch, a right-leaning transparency advocacy group, asked a court that week to release more of the investigators' records that supported the search, and that the judge would hear from the Justice Department the following week.