The autobiography written by Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., appears to prove she was an adult at the time she says her father obtained U.S. citizenship in 2000. Omar herself obtained citizenship on the basis of her reported status as a minor at the time, but statements in her book, as well as government records, indicate she was an adult.
Ilhan Omar — or Ilhan Nur Said Elmi, as U.S. government documents identify her — has claimed that her birthday is Oct. 4, 1982, making her 17 years old for most of the year 2000. Claims in at least two parts of her autobiography strongly suggest, however, that her birthday is actually in 1981, making her at least 18 throughout 2000, and therefore not eligible to receive citizenship under the sponsorship of her father.