We can all be very proud of this American immigrant, Halima Aden, who was the first fully-covered Muslim contestant in the Miss USA pageant, competing to represent Minnesota.
She made it to the semi-finals, but did not make it to the final five.
Miss Aden was born in a refugee camp. She and her family moved to Minnesota when she was a young girl. Minnesota is home to the largest number of Somali immigrants of any state, due in part to an active role Minnesota evangelicals play in helping refugees of every religion and nationality resettle there. There are more Somalis in Minneapolis than any other city in the U.S.
The combination of "Muslim Somali refugee citizen" and "beauty pageant" should not be lost on Donald Trump, who campaigned in Minnesota before the election, and told at least one crowd that Minnesota had "suffered enough" in resettling Somali Refugees.
This led one activist to comment: "Donald Trump rallied for intolerance ... in the land of 10,000 lakes, warm hearts, and Minnesota nice, the only thing we suffer from is an acute sense of progressivism!"
