Ilhan Omar's alleged brother and ex-husband, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, called himself ‘gay man’ in academic paper

Embattled Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar's ex-husband, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, called himself a ‘gay man’ in an academic paper. This revelation comes amid allegations of Elmi being Omar's brother.Ilhan Omar and Ahmed Nur Said Elmi divorced in 2017. (X/@IlhanMN, LinkedIn/Ahmed Elmi)In a paper titled Out in the Field: Notes on Researching Queer Violence in Kenya, Elmi wrote, “As a gay man of the East African diaspora, my fieldwork was never neutral. It was a space shaped by tension, risk, intimacy, and vulnerability.” A screenshot of the relevant excerpt from the paper has been attached below as well.The paper notes that Elmi is from the University of Bristol. Omar's ex-husband's LinkedIn notes he's a doctoral researcher in Political Science at the School of Sociology, Politics, and International Studies (SPAIS).Referring to Elmi's academic paper, The New York Post reported that his “self-described sexual orientation adds to the mounting evidence that his 2009 marriage to Omar was a sham to obtain legal immigration status for her alleged brother.”What to know about Ahmed ElmiAs per The Post, Elmi began to live with Omar and her first husband, Ahmed Hirsi, in Minnesota in 2009. One of Hisri's friends had described Elmi as an “extremely feminine Somali guy”, saying he was “walking around in tight female clothing, which is heavily frowned upon in the Somali community.”Also Read | Ilhan Omar's birth year questioned by journalist who flags Congresswoman's memoir stating she was eight during Somali civil warThe publication further reported that when asked about Elmi, Hisri had said it was “his wife’s brother from London." The Post further reported that Hisri had explained Omar married Elmi legally to “get him papers and that [Hirsi] was only Islamically married to her.”Elmi left Minnesota in 2012 and Omar and he finalized their divorce in 2017.Despite the allegations, Omar has denied any wrongdoing. When asked if Elmi could be related to her, Omar told MS Now “Not to my knowledge.”What are the allegations against Ilhan Omar?Ilhan Omar is in the midst of a federal investigation which seeks to examine whether the Democrat Congresswoman was part of a family conspiracy to commit immigration fraud. If found guilty, it could lead to her denaturalization and deportation.A New York Times report noted that the FBI and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had investigated Omar's marriage in 2016, during the Barack Obama presidency. They found “some evidence that it was fraudulent,” the report citing former and current officials, noted.The 2016 case was reportedly stalled after lawyers concluded that any potential crime took place outside the five-year statute of limitations. However, there is no such statute of limitations in the event of civil denaturalization being pursued.