What dates do immigration or naturalization documents show for Omar’s marital history?

Checked on December 10, 2025
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Executive summary

Available public records and reporting show multiple marriage-related dates in Rep. Ilhan Omar’s history: an Islamic/faith-based marriage to Ahmed Abdisalan Hirsi in the early 2000s (reported as 2002 by some outlets), a legal marriage to Ahmed Nur Said Elmi in 2009, a faith-based separation/divorce from Elmi in 2011 with a legal divorce finalized in December 2017, and a subsequent legal marriage to Ahmed Hirsi in 2018 followed by later marriages (including Tim Mynett in 2020 reported by AP) — these timelines are reported and disputed across outlets [1] [2] [3] [4] [5].

1. The sequence: faith-based Hirsi marriage, 2009 legal marriage to Elmi, 2017 legal divorce, 2018 legal marriage to Hirsi

Multiple reports reconstruct Omar’s marital timeline as first entering an unofficial, faith-based Islamic marriage with Ahmed Abdisalan Hirsi around 2002; later marrying Ahmed Nur Said Elmi in a civil ceremony in 2009; obtaining a religious divorce from Elmi in 2011 but not a legal divorce until December 2017; and legally marrying Hirsi in 2018 [1] [2] [3] [5].

2. Which specific document dates are cited in reporting

News outlets and investigative reporting cite the 2009 civil marriage to Ahmed Nur Said Elmi as a formal legal marriage date [3] [6]. The Minnesota Star Tribune and other reporting note a December 2017 legal divorce from Elmi and a legal marriage to Ahmed Hirsi a month later [2] [7]. Some fact-checking outlets and summaries list a 2002 faith-based marriage to Hirsi as the earliest union [1] [5].

3. Conflicting claims and political weaponization

Conservative commentators and social posts have repeatedly asserted that marriage records prove Omar married a brother to obtain immigration benefits; sites republishing those claims cite a February 12, 2009 marriage record and other document images [8] [6]. Mainstream fact-checkers and prior statements from Omar deny the brother-marriage allegation and emphasize that no official inquiry has substantiated immigration fraud tied to her marriages [9] [10] [11].

4. What primary documents are reported vs. what’s been publicly produced

Reporting references marriage certificates, tax filings and campaign-deposition testimony. The Star Tribune’s 2019 reporting relied on newly released documents and tax-filing patterns (filing federal taxes with Hirsi in 2014–15 while still legally married to Elmi) to outline dates; that story states the legal divorce occurred in December 2017 and a legal marriage to Hirsi followed in 2018 [2] [7]. Conservative sites and social posts claim they have marital records showing a February 12, 2009 marriage to Elmi [8], but those online claims have been contested by fact-checkers [9] [10].

5. Omar’s public response and timeline she provided

Omar has publicly disputed the most extreme allegations (for example, the brother-marriage claim), issuing a detailed timeline and calling the accusations “absolutely false and ridiculous” in past statements; outlets cite her 2016 statement and later denials as addressing those controversies [9] [3]. She has acknowledged the 2009 marriage to Elmi and the 2017 legal divorce timing in past interviews and deposition testimony reported by local outlets [3] [2].

6. Limitations in available reporting and unresolved points

Available sources do not provide a single, universally accepted primary-document packet that lays out every marriage certificate and court order in sequence; the assembled timeline rests on multiple news reports, campaign statements, Board depositions and selective documents released in 2019 [2] [7]. Claims on some partisan websites asserting definitive “proof” (e.g., that the 2009 record proves she married a brother for citizenship) are contradicted by other reporting and fact-checks and are presented without corroboration in major outlets [8] [9].

7. What to watch for in further verification

Document-level verification requires release or clearance to publish the original marriage certificates, divorce decrees and immigration filings. Major fact-checkers and outlets that have investigated this story — Snopes, Star Tribune reporting and AP summaries cited here — have repeatedly urged caution: they document the 2009 marriage, the 2011 faith-based divorce, the December 2017 legal divorce and the 2018 legal marriage to Hirsi as the core chronology, and they note that no official finding of immigration fraud has been produced in public records cited so far [9] [2] [5].

Summary: Reporting converges on a 2009 legal marriage to Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, a religious divorce in 2011 and a legal divorce in December 2017 followed by a 2018 legal marriage to Ahmed Hirsi; earlier faith-based ties to Hirsi are reported as circa 2002 and later marriages (including to Tim Mynett in 2020) are documented in other sources — but partisan claims about a brother-marriage rest on contested document copies and remain disputed in the public record [3] [2] [1] [8] [9].

Want to dive deeper?
Which immigration or naturalization forms list marital history and the dates recorded?
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