'Could be seen using forks'

What does it take to qualify as the top story at the Fox News homepage a week before the 2026 election? Let's follow our intrepid correspondent into the wilds of ...

MINNEAPOLIS — It's the largest Somali mall in the world, according to its owner.

Oh.

It's also where Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., spent a significant chunk of her Friday — marking her first day back in the public eye after the Oct. 12 raid on her Washington, D.C., home.

Fox News Digital got a look inside the Karmel Mall of Somalia, which isn't like typical American malls that sport brand-name shops situated around a vast food court and end-capped by large department stores.

Are you starting to get the idea that These People are ... Not Like Us? 

Rather, the building that boasts four floors of shops and 900 vendors resembles more of a storage facility. When shop owners arrive, they lift their metal garage doors, signifying that their stores are open. Scheduled opening and closing times don't appear particularly stringent for shop owners.

It was in the mall's dining area, adorned with the Somali, Palestinian and American flags flying at the same height, that Omar dined among friends in the Somali community for lunch on Friday. State Attorney General Keith Ellison was also present. The ceiling of the food vendor area is painted light blue and emblazoned with a white star resembling the Somali flag.

Time means nothing to Those People. The flags are at the same height! The level of scorn for our most cherished traditions could rival the WNBA Finals.

Somali cafes sell traditional food, including sambusas, a flaky fried pastry filled with meat and spices, bijaye, which is fried cornmeal similar to a hush puppy or falafel, and goat meat and basmati rice. Many Somalis in the mall ate only with their hands, though Omar and her acquaintances could be seen using forks during their Friday lunch.

"Could be seen using forks."

Omar — who's "real name" is Ilhan Nur Said Elmi, according to sources familiar with the criminal investigation into the congresswoman — was greeted by smiling patrons at the mall, some of whom she chatted with briefly and posed for photographs.

James Donald Bowman could not be reached for comment, but he might be able to tell the difference between "who's" and "whose."

All the while, she and Ellison were surrounded by security guards.

Fox News Digital was allowed access into the mall by its Gaza-born owner, Basim Sabri, in order to film the congresswoman's visit just after she and Ellison voted early at a Minneapolis polling station.

Prominently featured among the stores in the mall are shops selling prepaid electronic SIM cards for overseas calling and money transfer stores, including World Direct Link Corp., which advertises simple ways to send money to Somalia, Kenya and other East African nations.

There are also several travel agencies offering arrangements from the United States to the Middle East and East Africa. Traditional Somali clothiers sell their goods in the mall, while Somali barbers tend to customers in their own shops. English is the mall's second language.

Let's not start a pool on whether the reporter can identify the mall's first language. But at this point, it seems safe to say (paraphrasing from a social media comment here) that Fox is on board with the core Republican campaign value: Vote for us -- we're white, and they aren't.