A new report concerning Rep. Ilhan Omar’s birth year has raised fresh questions about the Minnesota Democrat’s immigration history, adding another layer of controversy to an already politically charged dispute. According to the New York Post, congressional staff for Omar requested a change to her listed year of birth in 2019, months after she entered Congress.
The report centers on a discrepancy between two birth years that appeared in publicly available records: 1981 and 1982. While a change of one year might ordinarily seem insignificant, the timing has attracted attention because age can be a critical factor in determining eligibility for certain forms of citizenship under federal immigration law.
According to the Post, Omar’s birth year was listed as 1981 in several prominent sources for years, including the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, Wikipedia, and the BBC. That information remained publicly available during her service in the Minnesota Legislature and into the early months of her first congressional term.
However, the newspaper reported that the situation changed in May 2019, after a video from a political opponent questioning Omar’s age gained widespread attention online.
