Ilhan Omar demands answers after federal agent found outside her town hall

MINNEAPOLIS (MNTV) — Representative Ilhan Omar is demanding answers from federal authorities after a Homeland Security Investigations agent was found outside her monthly town hall in Richfield, Minnesota, raising questions about federal surveillance around a congressional event.

In a letter to the interim head of the HSI office in St. Paul, Omar said a Richfield police officer noticed a woman in a parked Ford Explorer watching the community center as attendees arrived. 

The vehicle’s plates were registered to a different car, and when officers approached, the woman first said she was security; after Omar’s team confirmed she was not, she identified herself as an HSI agent conducting an undercover drug investigation and left.

Richfield police said they received no advance notice of the operation — coordination, they noted, that could have protected both the agent and the public. 

Omar questioned how HSI learned of the town hall, whether the agent’s presence was connected to it, and why local police were left to spend time investigating a federal agent instead of protecting constituents.

The episode does not establish that HSI was targeting Omar, and the agency’s stated reason was an unrelated drug investigation.

But the lack of coordination raises questions about federal law enforcement operating near protected political activity.

Omar is seeking clarification on how the agency learned of the event, what training the agent had, and whether HSI has observed other Minnesota political events this year.