Trump Says Ilhan Omar Could Face Jail Or Deportation

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Rep. Ilhan Omar could face jail in addition to deportation, calling the Minnesota Democrat “a disgrace to our country” as she faces a federal investigation into allegations involving her citizenship.

Trump made the remarks inside the Oval Office during his fraud incentive program announcement, responding to a question from FOX Business correspondent Edward Lawrence about whether a problem with Omar’s age could lead to her deportation.

“Well, she could be. She could also go to jail,” Trump said. “You know, they keep talking about deportation. No, she could go to jail.”

The president did not identify a specific criminal charge or present new evidence against Omar during the exchange.

“This is just my opinion,” Trump added, before calling the congresswoman “a very dishonest person” who “hates our country.”

His comments come after border czar Tom Homan said Omar could lose her citizenship and be deported if investigators prove immigration fraud. Federal agents searched her Washington, D.C., home on October 12, seizing her cellphone and other possessions.

The investigation centers on allegations that Omar or her father misrepresented her birth year on immigration paperwork. The disputed timeline concerns whether she was a minor when her father became a U.S. citizen in 2000 and qualified for citizenship through him, or was already 18 and needed to apply separately.

“Of course, if you lie during the naturalization process, there is a process to denaturalize somebody. We’ve done it before,” Homan said on Saturday. “And certainly, if the evidence points that way, that could happen.”

Homan said Omar would be held to the same standards as anyone else, while declining to discuss specifics of investigators’ findings.

“I’m not going to get ahead of the bureau or HSI, but I’ve been told they have a strong case, and we’ll let the evidence lead where it leads,” he said.

Omar has denied wrongdoing. She and other Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, have denounced the investigation as political persecution targeting a prominent Trump critic ahead of the midterm elections.

During Tuesday’s exchange, Trump also attacked Omar’s criticism of the United States, questioning why she sought to tell Americans how to run the country after coming from Somalia.

“Then she comes over here, and she says that she wants to tell us how to run America. She wants to tell us how to run the United States of America,” Trump said.

“She’s a disgrace to our country,” he added, while saying he hoped she would receive fair treatment.

“I hope they treat her fairly,” Trump said.