"23 years ago, from a refugee camp in Kenya, my father and I arrived at an airport in Washington DC," Omar, a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party who's set to be one of the first Muslim women in Congress, wrote in a tweet. "Today, we return to that same airport on the eve of my swearing in as the first Somali-American in Congress."
In the photo, Omar and her father can be seen beaming as they walk through Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Virginia, luggage in tow.
On Thursday, Omar and her soon-to-be colleague, Rep.-elect Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat, will become the first two Muslim women in Congress. Omar, who donned a patterned religious headscarf in the photo, helped author a proposal in November by Democrats to end a nearly two-century-old rule that bans headwear on the House floor.
"No one puts a scarf on my head but me. It's my choice -- one protected by the first amendment," the Minnesotan wrote on Twitter and Instagram in November.
On Thursday, Omar will join a record number of women and minorities who will be sworn in to the most diverse Congress in history.
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