Omar’s legal team says the search violated safeguards designed to protect constitutional rights of members of Congress.

Lawyers for Democratic United States Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota have demanded the return of property seized in a federal raid of her Washington, DC home, accusing the US Department of Justice of conducting a politically motivated investigation and failing to follow judicial instructions during the search.

“The political motivations behind this pre-election investigation and search are clear as day,” Omar’s lawyers wrote in a letter sent to federal prosecutors on Friday and obtained by The Associated Press news agency. “This search was neither justified nor lawful.”

In the letter, Omar’s lawyers, Amy Jeffress and Joshua Matz, challenged an investigation into her immigration history, saying there was “no legitimate basis for any suggestion that she has violated any law concerning her citizenship status”.

The letter accuses federal agents of threatening the separation of powers and failing to comply with a magistrate judge’s instructions for the search of Omar’s northeast Washington home on Monday.

Federal agents searched Omar’s home on Monday as part of an investigation into alleged immigration fraud. Authorities seized her phone and passport, and have issued more than a dozen grand jury subpoenas, including to some of her relatives, according to The Washington Post. Her lawyers also asked authorities to preserve audio and video recordings from the search.

Omar’s lawyers claim that investigators did not provide a copy of the warrant to them in advance, nor did they contact the House of Representatives’ Office of General Counsel, which disregarded the magistrate judge’s orders. The notice would have allowed Omar to seek legal counsel and potentially leverage legislation that could have challenged the warrant.

Her lawyers said the procedures outlined by the judge are intended to protect Omar’s constitutional rights as a sitting member of Congress, and safeguard against the seizure of materials related to her legislative work.

Her lawyers also argued that the investigation was politically motivated due to its proximity to the November midterm elections.

“Historically, the Department has refrained from this type of investigative activity so close to an election, so as to avoid even the appearance of politically motivated law enforcement actions,” they wrote.