Further investigation into social media accounts, news reports, and legal documents support the allegation MN State House of Representatives Candidate Ilhan Omar married her brother, who is not a US citizen, in 2009.

As Alpha News reported last week, Powerline Blog raised some interesting questions about the current state of the DFL candidate’s marriages and the possibility of her committing immigration fraud.

Research by Alpha News suggests that Omar was involved with Ahmed Nur Said Elmi (her legal husband) and Ahmed Hirsi (her cultural husband and father of her children) at the same time.

Now Alpha News has confirmed that the legal name for Omar’s father is Nur Said Elmi Mohamed. In 2013, Ilhan Omar wrote an op-ed for the Twin Cities Daily Planet. In the op-ed, she celebrated the creation of a new state within Somalia called Jubaland and spoke of the excitement of the Somali community in the Twin Cities.

Alpha News studied the Jubaland Foundation, which is located in St. Anthony, MN.

During the investigation process, we found a document titled “An open letter on the Formation of the Jubaland State” written by “Concerned Jubaland Communities in Minnesota, United States.”

Signatures #7 and #35 stand out on the document. Mohamed Keynan who is #35, is also the brother-in-law of Ilhan Omar.

Mohamed Keynan Ali married Ilhan’s sister Sahra Noor on December 31, 2008, in Ramsey County, MN.



Alpha News tried to reach out to the Jubaland Foundation, which updated its registration with the Minnesota Secretary of State as recently as May 2016. However, the phone number listed is for a veterinarian’s office.

Alpha News has identified signature #7 to be Nur Said Elmi Mohamed, Ilhan Omar’s father. In Facebook posts by Sahra Noor and Ilhan Omar, they identify their father as Nur Said. A Facebook profile picture for Nur Said also matches photos posted by Omar and Noor.

In a campaign letter found on Omar’s campaign site, he refers to himself as “Nur Mohamed” and tells voters why they should vote for his daughter Ilhan Omar. A Somali community member speaking under the terms of anonymity has confirmed to Alpha News that Nur Said Elmi Mohamed is the same person as Nur Said/Nur Mohamed and is the father of Ilhan Omar and Sahra Noor. He states that Nur Said Elmi Mohamed shortens his name. This community member also tells Alpha News that he met Ahmed Nur Said Elmi and states that Elmi was introduced as Omar’s brother.

According to our source within the community and an article published by the St. Cloud Times earlier this year detailing how Somali names are chosen, both article and source confirm that:

“Somali children are usually given a three-part name. The first name is a chosen name. The middle name traditionally is the first name of the child’s father. The last name is the child’s paternal grandfather’s first name. Women usually do not change their last name when they marry, so married parents will often have different last names [Ahmed Abdi – SCTimes Reporter].”

Therefore, any of Nur Said Elmi Mohamed’s children’s names would follow this same pattern. Alpha News has learned through a WCCO article written in 2015 on Ilhan Omar’s sister, Sahra Noor, that Nur Said Elmi Mohamed had 5 biological children.

Alpha News, through multiple sources and social media, has been able to identify them all. Ilhan Omar and Sahra Noor both came with Nur Said Elmi Mohamed to the United States in the 1990’s, while Mohamed Nur Said Elmi, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, and Leila Nur Said Elmi live in the United Kingdom.

A clear familial resemblance can be seen between Mohammed Nur Said Elmi (right) and Ahmed Nur Said Elmi (left).

Scott Johnson of Powerline shares an image from a confidential source that shows Mohammed Nur Said Elmi congratulating his sister Ilhan Omar for her speech in London and announces her intentions to run for office in MN. Again written in Somali, Johnson’s source translate post: “My sister Ilhan Omar made concise and very important speech in London, in that speech she announced that she will run for Minnesota state Representative seat the year the of 2016, I wish her victory, support her.”

Since last Friday when Powerline Blog’s article broke on the potential marriage/immigration fraud, Ilhan Omar restricted access using privacy settings on her Instagram account. All social media accounts related to Ahmed Nur Said Elmi were deleted within the last week. Alpha News has screenshots of the pre-existing accounts. Ahmed Nur Said Elmi used the same handle for his Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn and other social media accounts (@ahmednelmi). Omar, whose Instagram handle is @hameey, has recently made her Instagram public again. However, she has deleted any pictures of her and Elmi from her visit to the United Kingdom in 2015. Screenshots of Elmi and Omar were featured on Powerline Blog and Alpha News.

Instagram photos obtained by Alpha News of Ahmed Nur Said Elmi’s profile shows a post dating back to May 4, 2013. In the post, Elmi references his two nieces stating that “these girls rock my world.”

A bag held by one of the young girls is from RHYL, a UK primary school located in Camden just outside of Central London. The date corresponds with both Omar’s statement that she and Elmi were no longer together as he went back to the UK in 2012.

One thing that stood out is that Ilhan Omar’s “loved” the picture on Instagram. Her Instagram handle @hameey is seen as liking the photos of the two young girls. Note that she likes the post two years after she supposedly split with Elmi.

A collage posted by Omar on her Instagram page in August 2015 shows an older version of the two girls with Omar. In the post, she states that she is “Taking a break from the adults and having a fun day at Camden Lock w/ my nieces #londontrip #qualitytime.” Both Elmi and Omar share nieces with almost exact facial structure and both live in Camden in the United Kingdom. These two girls either belong to Leila Nur Said Elmi or Mohamed Nur Said Elmi.

The most damning piece of evidence obtained by Alpha News was a post by an Ilhan Omar supporter named Mulki Xirsi on Facebook, the night of Omar’s primary victory.

While the post is in Somali, Alpha News put it through Google Translate. While not 100% accurate, when we checked the word for word translation, this is what it said:

“We send congratulations establish my sister Ilhan Omar and Ahmed Hirsi my sister a victory in recent elections have to the. Ilhan Omar is dadadashey sister God I pray that you will make your office taken, I want to thank here establish nephew Nur Said, Sahra Nur, Leila Elmi, Mohamed Nur Said Relatives and family and all the contributors to the activities of the heaviest dog Ilhan experiences. I also want to thank repeat on behalf of my sons and daughters, as the relentless Hirsi branch supported Ilhan Nur Said …”

The last three words in this Facebook post identify Omar as Ilhan Nur Said. As noted in the SCTimes article, women do not take on their husband’s name when they get married. Omar has kept her legal name when she got married culturally to Ahmed Hirsi and got married legally to Ahmed Nur Said Elmi. Our source within the community tells Alpha News that they are not sure why Omar goes by Ilhan Abdullahi Omar.

Alpha News has requested comment from both the Ilhan Omar campaign and her criminal defense attorney Jean Brandl asking questions about her family, her father’s legal name and involvement with Jubaland, and about her siblings. They did not respond to our request for comment.

In prepared statements, Omar has dismissed the claims that she married her brother and that the marriages were simply a difficult time in her private life.

Here is why marrying her brother is worthy of this type of investigation: Ilhan Omar is on a path to become a state lawmaker. Immigration fraud is a serious crime and someone who intends to make new laws needs to be truthful with the citizens she would represent in district 60B.

She needs to explain why her current and only legal husband Ahmed Nur Said Elmi’s name follows the Somali custom of being named after his father, which is the same name as her father.

She should also explain why much of her social media was scrubbed after the initial Powerline Blog article was published and then made public again.

The Wall Street Journal reported in 2008 that the refugee program in Africa was halted by the United States because thousands of Africans lied about their family ties in order to enter the United States.

The Omar camp provided a letter from U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger denouncing a Fox 9 investigation that claims that his office has asked Immigration services to look into her marriages.

Subscribe to Alpha News as we continue to follow the Ilhan Omar controversy.