The day after Rep. Ilhan Omar made her first public appearance since federal agents searched her home, visitors were shown around Karmel Mall in Minneapolis, a center of Somali businesses and community life in her district.
The mall is more than a place to shop or arrange services. One woman who owns a business there described it as a community hub, particularly for women entrepreneurs.
The tour was led by mall owner Basim Sabri, a Gaza-born immigrant who came to Minneapolis to study and later built a real estate business. His properties include the mall and several nearby apartment buildings where many Somalis live. Sabri has connections in local and state politics, is friends with Omar and knew her father.
English is often a second language for people inside the mall. Its businesses include phone shops selling international SIM cards, currency exchanges and travel agencies arranging trips to the Middle East and East Africa. Other stores sell gold, perfume and traditional Somali clothing, much of it aimed at women.
There are also Somali barbershops, cafes, food vendors and henna artists. Sabri gave different estimates for the number of businesses, at one point saying there were about 900 and later putting the figure at 750.
A food court features a large Somali flag painted on the ceiling, while Somali, Palestinian and American flags hang on the walls. Sabri said politicians often hold news conferences there. Omar also had lunch in the space with friends, supporters and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison after voting early in her reelection campaign.
The mall includes a weekend Islamic school where children study the Quran and take part in recreational activities. Although it is not exclusively for Somalis, few visitors from outside the community were seen during the tour. Security initially turned away the visiting crew, which had tried to enter and film without Sabri’s approval.
Sabri barred Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey from the mall in February 2024 after Frey vetoed a City Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza conflict.
Sabri described the mall as a starting point for entrepreneurs: some businesses begin there, grow and eventually move to larger premises. He also said the mall helps Somalis become part of the wider community, adding that many are capable business owners who have found success.
The mall’s name and its distinctly Somali atmosphere have also prompted questions about how well the community is assimilating into American society.
Steven Camerota, research director at the Center for Immigration Studies, cited a report published by the organization last December that characterized Somali immigrants as a group facing significant challenges. According to the report, more than half of children in Minnesota households headed by Somali-born immigrants live in poverty, compared with 8% of children in households headed by native-born residents.
The report also found that half of Somali-born immigrants who had been in the United States for more than 10 years did not speak English “very well.” It said 89% of Somali households received some form of public assistance and 39% of Somali-born adults lacked a high school diploma, compared with 8% of the native-born population.
Camerota argued that assimilation has weakened among several immigrant groups, including Somalis. He noted that immigrants now make up about 15% of the U.S. population, a share comparable to the country’s first major immigration wave in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Immigration increased again in more recent decades, with roughly one million legal immigrants entering the country each year, Camerota said. He pointed to three broad factors that, in his view, make assimilation more difficult today. One is technology: air travel makes visits to a home country easier, while the internet and video calls allow immigrants to stay in close contact with people there.
Those connections, he said, may mean that ties to a country of origin weaken more slowly than they did for earlier generations. He also said attitudes among influential figures in academia, government and the media have changed, leaving Americans with competing ideas about the country’s history and identity.
Camerota said immigrants now encounter sharply different accounts of America: one that presents the country as a project built around democracy and equality, and another that sees it as fundamentally shaped by racism, sexism, homophobia and class divisions. He argued that these conflicting messages may affect how newcomers view the idea of assimilation.
In some circles, Camerota added, assimilation is treated as an unwelcome demand that immigrants abandon their cultural backgrounds in favor of conformity. The country, he said, has not reached agreement on its own history or on what it expects of immigrants.
He also pointed to the size of the immigrant population. The share of foreign-born residents has reached about 15%, similar to levels between 1890 and 1910. Camerota said the immigration restrictions imposed in the mid-20th century may have encouraged assimilation by limiting the growth of immigrant enclaves, and suggested similar restrictions could have that effect today.
Sabri has also faced legal trouble. In 2005, he was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison for bribing a Minneapolis public official. In a separate interview, he discussed his time in prison, including a brief stay at the federal facility in Leavenworth, Kansas.
Sabri said the mall is open to everyone. He described Somalis as hardworking and intelligent, and invited people to visit and see the businesses for themselves. Many, he said, are earning a living, building companies and pursuing what he called the American dream.
