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Representative Ilhan Omar continues to deny allegations that she married her alleged brother, Ahmed Elmi, in a sham marriage, but when asked this week if they were related, she cautiously replied: " To my knowledge, no." The Minnesota congresswoman, who arrived in the U.S. as a refugee from Somalia in 1995, has strongly rejected suggestions that she married Elmi for immigration purposes. However, strong evidence has emerged that continues to fuel doubts that this is not the case. First, a marriage certificate. Omar officially married Elmi, whom she described as a British citizen, in the United States in 2009, and they divorced in
2017. Omar's family roots are divided between continents, and the situation is complicated by the fact that Somali documents have been lost or destroyed. It is said that her mother died when she was young, and the family itself is divided into two branches: one in the UK, the other in the USA. Elmi's origins are unknown, but he lived in London with Leila Noor Said, a Somali woman believed to be Omar's sister and who may have raised him.
Leila's British marriage certificate from 1997, obtained by the publication, lists Nur Said Elmi, an officer in the Somali army, as her father. Omar's late father, Nur Omar Mohamed, was also known as Nur Said Elmi and was a prominent military commander during the Somali dictatorship. Several sources told the publication that they believe the person named in the British legal document is Noor, Omar's father. Omar's father also used the name Noor Saeed on Facebook, and his profile is linked to that of Leila, who proudly left hearts under his photos. Following his death at the age of 67 in June 2020, social media users paid tribute to
Nur Said Elma and left words of condolences for both Omar and Leyla. Leila and Omar did not respond to a request for comment when contacted by email. Secondly, living conditions. From 2009 to 2017, Omar was officially married to Elmi, but during this period, Omar gave birth to a third child from her previous husband, Ahmed Hirsi. Omar first applied for a marriage license with Hirsi in 2002, although she later stated that they never completed the paperwork and were therefore never officially married. According to Omar, the couple broke up in 2008, but got back together about 4 years later, around 2012, and got married in 2018.
Omar claims that he and Elmi separated in 2011, but it took several years to get the paperwork done. In their marriage application, Omar and Elmi both listed a property in Columbia Heights, a suburb of Minneapolis, as their common address. Hirsi also used this address to obtain a business license. Additionally, the Post previously reported on Omar and Hirsi's joint tax returns for 2014 and 2015, even though she was legally married to Elmi at the time, but these returns were later corrected. Omar's divorce from Elmi was finalized in 2017, although he reportedly left the country and returned to the UK before it was finalized. In 2019, he withdrew his application for a green card based on marriage.
The revocation was reported to have occurred after U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services requested additional proof of marriage. Number three-statements from community leaders. A Somali blogger from Minneapolis added fuel to the fire when he told the Daily Mail in 2020 that he knew Omar when they were both growing up in Minnesota, and in the early 2000s, she introduced Elmi to members of the Somali community as her brother from London. Omar allegedly told people at the time that her brother was looking for documents, meaning immigration papers such as a green card. " No one knew about the wedding with Elmi until the media found the marriage certificate years later," he said at the time. A Somali blogger claimed that
his father ordered Elma to come to the US from the UK because he did not approve of the uninhibited lifestyle he was leading in London. " People began to notice that Ilhan and Hirsi were often with a very feminine young man. He was very feminine in the way he dressed. In the summer, he would wear light lipstick, pink clothes and very, very short shorts. People started to whisper about him, he told the Daily Mail. According to the blogger, the exile to America was intended as a kind of rehabilitation. After returning to the UK, Elmi began working on a doctorate the University of Bristol in 2023, where his areas of interest included a critical queer and gender research group. In late 2025, the Post reported how he had made an extended visit to
the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa." " So far so good, a month in Johannesburg," Elmi captioned an Instagram post from November 4. Aside from Omar, Elmi has never had a romantic relationship with any other women.
