Minnesota Senate candidate wears hijab in visit to Somali market as fraud scandal unfolds

Minnesota Lt. Gov. and U.S. Senate candidate Peggy Flanagan was seen on a Somali TV station wearing a hijab at a mall, as a widespread fraud scandal implicating some Somalis plagues the state.

“The Somali community is part of the fabric of the state of Minnesota,” Flanagan said, looking into the camera.

For Muslim women, wearing a hijab is typically a sign of obedience to God and worn to show modesty. 

Flanagan has previously stated that she is Catholic and says on her campaign website that her “view on immigration is grounded in her Catholic faith.”

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The lieutenant governor is challenging two other Democratic candidates in the primary race to fill the seat of outgoing Democratic Sen. Tina Smith. Former Democratic presidential candidate and current Sen. Amy Klobuchar serves as the other senator from the state.

Flanagan’s far-left views also prompted her to wear a “Protect Trans Kids” shirt with a knife on it in August in a viral video telling parents: “When our children tell us who they are, it’s our job as grown-ups to listen and believe them.”

In 2022, federal prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota began probing a nonprofit called Feeding Our Future, an organization which fueled what the Justice Department said is one of the largest pandemic relief fraud schemes in history.

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Since the investigation began, $250 million in fraudulent claims have led to 78 individuals charged as part of what prosecutors say is a sizable $9 billion fraud scheme. 

Many of the individuals charged come from the Somali community in Minnesota.

More than 400 Minnesota state employees spoke out about the issue, pointing fingers at former presidential candidate and Democratic Gov. Tim Walz for negligence in acting on warnings and indicators of fraud and retaliation against whistleblowers who attempted to expose the scandal.

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Walz has been pushed to address the issue on several occasions, admitting in a New York Times interview that the programs may have been overly generous.

“The programs are set up to move the money to people,” Walz said last month. “The programs are set up to improve people’s lives, and in many cases, the criminals find the loopholes.”

Walz set up a new anti-fraud task force as part of a crackdown. “The message here in Minnesota is if you commit a crime, if you commit fraud against public dollars, you are going to go to prison,” he told the Times.

The House Oversight Committee launched an investigation into Walz’s handling of the relief program at the beginning of December. 

“This massive amount of fraud is affecting and impacting every citizen of Minnesota because they’re having to cut services because so much of the money for social programs was wasted and defrauded by this Somali population,” House Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., told Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” earlier this week. 

Comer plans to subpoena testimony and records, setting the stage for a potential blockbuster hearing.

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President Donald Trump took swift action when the news broke and terminated deportation protections for Somali nationals living in Flanagan’s state “effectively immediately” in November after news of the fraud scandal broke. 

“Send them back to where they came from,” Trump posted to Truth Social. “It’s OVER!”

Fox News Digital reached out to Flanagan and Walz but did not receive responses.

Fox News’ Adriana James-Rodil contributed to this report.