Ilhan Omar's sister skips book tour event amid week of chaos following raid on progressive's DC home
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Video WATCH: Ilhan Omar's husband jumps to her defense following federal raid of DC home Rep. Ilhan Omar's, D-Minn., husband, Tim Mynett, defends her immigration timeline outside their DC residence that Homeland Security Investigations raided on Monday amid a criminal fraud investigation. (Credit: Nicholas Ballasy for Fox News Digital)
ROCHESTER, Minn. — The older sister of embattled Rep. Ilhan Omar , D-Minn., who is currently on a book tour promoting a memoir about her life as a Somali immigrant, skipped a scheduled event due to a "family emergency" amid the fallout from the raid on the congresswoman's home.
As Omar faces a federal government probe related to potential immigration fraud as well as a separate investigation into her financial disclosures, Sahra Noor was scheduled for a book tour stop at the University of Minnesota Rochester on Thursday night.
Noor, who came to the United States as a refugee alongside Omar and other family members in the 1990s, was reportedly subpoenaed in relation to the immigration investigation into her sister. She currently lives in Nairobi, Kenya, according to her LinkedIn page, but is on a worldwide book tour promoting her recently-released "Salt in the Snow: A Somali Immigrant Story."
Ilhan Omar wearing a patterned hijab and green scarf. (L) Sahra Noor, sister of Ilhan Omar, speaking at an event at the University of Minnesota in 2016. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images; University of Minnesota)
Fox News Digital reached out to Noor for comment but did not hear back at time of publication.
According to a flyer, which was posted on Facebook by Rochester-based bookstore Garden Party Books, the event was scheduled for Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. It was set to be held at the Intercultural Student Center at the University of Minnesota Rochester.
When Fox News Digital arrived for the event, the space was completely empty. Fox News Digital had previously RSVP'd for the event via a QR code on the flyer and did not receive any communication that the event had been canceled, rescheduled or relocated.
Garden Party Books told Fox News Digital the event was canceled due to a Noor "family emergency."
The Intercultural Student Center at the University of Minnesota, Rochester, Minnesota, Thursday, October 14, 2026. Sahra Noor, sister of Rep. Ilhan Omar, was scheduled to discuss her memoir, Salt in the Snow at this location but for an undisclosed reason the event was canceled without warning. (Obtained by Fox News Digital)
Noor's absence from the book tour stop comes amid rumors that Omar fled the United States following the raid earlier this week. While the congresswoman has not been seen in public since Monday's raid, her husband snapped when asked outside the home on Wednesday whether he had a response to the rumors that she fled the country.
The flyer said that Garden Party Books, along with the University of Minnesota Bookstores and the Rochester Public Library, were "proud supporters" of the event.
It also described Noor as a "poet, storyteller and health system leader," and said the book is a "story of migration, motherhood, grief and family."
According to Noor's website , her book was officially launched during an event in a Nairobi bookstore on Aug. 13, 2026. She appeared in early September at a festival in Cape Town, South Africa to promote her work.
Federal agents with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) raided the Washington, D.C., home of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., early Monday morning, a source familiar with the operation told Fox News Digital. (Andrew Murray/Fox News Digital)
Now, she is touring in the United States. Noor held an Oct. 1 event in Minneapolis, and another five days later at the University of Minnesota. She hosted an event in St. Paul, Minnesota on Oct. 7. Her next scheduled event is at the Somali Community Cultural Innovation Hub in Seattle on Oct. 23.
Federal agents with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the leading investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), executed a search warrant on Omar's home starting at around 6:00 a.m. on Monday morning.
Fox News Digital first reported Monday that the raid stems from an investigation into whether Omar or her late father, Nur Mohamed, fraudulently filled out her citizenship paperwork decades ago.
The investigation, two sources noted, could lead to the congresswoman's denaturalization.
The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Omar's phone, passport and computers were seized in the raid.
Omar has described the search as an "outrageous abuse of power" and called it an "unprecedented escalation in the weaponization of federal law enforcement to target political enemies."
Peter D'Abrosca is a politics reporter at Fox News Digital.
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