John Nagel, the Republican running an underdog campaign against Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., in Minnesota's 5th Congressional District, has sharpened his criticism of the incumbent. His comments came after Omar's Washington, D.C., home was raided about a month before the midterm election.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Nagel said it should be easy for Omar, who was born in Somalia, to clear up public confusion about her immigration status while a federal investigation into alleged fraud moves forward. Omar is the subject of a criminal probe over whether information on her immigration paperwork was falsified. Nagel said she deserves due process and "the same investigation that everybody else would have."
Nagel acknowledged that Omar does not have to prove her innocence. Still, he said producing paperwork or providing a DNA sample could put the matter to rest. "You're not a private person anymore, you're a public person," he said, adding that voters have a right to know whether they can trust their representative.
A former state trooper with 30 years in law enforcement, Nagel said Minnesota faces two problems: a terrorism problem and a Somali gang problem. He pointed to a recent foiled attack at the Mall of America in Bloomington, a Minneapolis suburb, and said the FBI stopped it before anyone got inside. He also said the issue goes beyond one community, noting that Minnesota has Somali, Asian, Black and Latino gangs, and he called for a gang task force.
The FBI thwarted the planned attack on Oct. 7, 2026. Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud, 18, was arrested and charged with knowingly receiving a firearm and ammunition while knowing or having reasonable cause to believe they would be used in a felony and a federal crime of terrorism. He is an American citizen born to Somali parents and allegedly pledged allegiance to al-Shabaab, a Somalia-based offshoot of ISIS.
Local officials have also blamed Somali gangs for two recent shootings in the Minneapolis suburbs. The first was at Eden Prairie High School during homecoming celebrations. Two people were injured in the school parking lot after gang members were seen making gang signs at one another, and Abdirahman Ahmed Jama, 18, was arrested on a riot charge. Court documents say Jama was later the target of a shooting at a Bloomington gas station, likely in retaliation, according to FOX 9. More than 100 rounds were fired.
Nagel described the groups as low-level but dangerous. "They don't necessarily deal in drugs yet," he said, adding that they "primarily deal in guns" and know how to convert a pistol into a "little mini machine gun." He said that is what investigators saw in Bloomington and Eden Prairie.
Nagel also said officials have only recently acknowledged the gang link, after resisting it for years. He recalled that Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher was called a racist and attacked by the Somali community a year ago for saying Somali gang violence was a problem. "The problem was, he was right," Nagel said, and he argued that being called racist "doesn't have a sting to it anymore."
Turning back to Omar, Nagel said she regularly criticizes the United States and tries to weaken it. "Her first love is Somalia," he said, adding that in his view Somalia comes first for her and that Americans are "nothing more than a piggy bank for her."
