Although southern and coastal states have larger immigrant popula-tions and received more immigrants between 1990 and 2010, some important midwestern outliers, such as Minnesota, also attract a notable number of settlers (Fennelly 2012). The state as a whole expe-rienced a 235 percent increase in the number of foreign-born residents from 1990 to 2010 (1). One noteworthy characteristic of the state’s for-eign-born population is that it includes one of the highest proportions of refugees in the nation (Fennelly and Orfield 2008). Like Ohio, these population changes can be seen in the number of English-language learners (ELLs) in the public schools: Minnesota experienced a 350 percent increase in ELL students between 1990 and 2000 (7).
The state’s refugee relocation tradition started after the federal Displaced Persons Act of 1948 (Fennelly 2006a, 118). Minnesota has seven voluntary organizations that help refugees transition to life in the state (11), including Lutheran Social Services, Catholic Chari-ties USA, Minnesota Council of Churches, International Institute of Minnesota, Arrive Ministries, Jewish Family Service, and Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Minneapolis (11). Voluntary agen-cies—operating with a budget of $425 per person (Ali 2011,88)—help refugees secure English-language courses, housing, and health care for the first ninety days they are in the country (DeRusha 2011). Once the 90 days are up, refugees rely on public services and nonprofits as well as on family and friends (Ali 2011, 90).
Since the end of World War II, Minnesota has accepted large numbers of refugees. The state was among the first to accept Jew-ish refugees from Europe in 1948, in the aftermath of the Holocaust (Ali 2011, 90). Although the Jewish experience in Minnesota was
not always easy (Berman and Schloff 2014; Weber 1991), the state has a rich Jewish tradition today. In the late 1980s, Russian refugees established roots in the Twin Cities as the Soviet Union began to col-lapse (Fennelly 2006a, 120). More significant non-European immi-gration in Minnesota happened in the 1970s, when many Southeast Asians—many belonging to the Hmong ethnic group, which com-prises Asian ethnic groups from China, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand9—began to find refuge in Minnesota, and specifically in St. Paul. The Hmong American population explosion after the end of the Vietnam War occurred thanks to government, nonprofit, and religious outreach to struggling Hmong groups in Asia (Fennelly 2006a, 120). Secondary migration of Hmong from other regions, such as Fresno, California, to the Twin Cities has made the area home to one of the largest Hmong communities in the nation (120). By 2000, the Hmong population had reached 42,863, a 225 percent jump since 1990 (120). Hmong political involvement in St. Paul has resulted in high levels of political incorporation and election to local and state offices (Lor 2009).
Latinos are also an increasingly influential group in the Twin Cit-ies. Although the largest proportion of the Latino population is Mexi-can AmeriMexi-can, other Central and South AmeriMexi-cans are represented in the region. In the 1980s, refugees from countries including El Sal-vador and Guatemala arrived in the Twin Cities as a consequence of civil war in their native lands. Others from more peaceful areas came in search of economic opportunities. As noted in the economic overview earlier in this chapter, the availability of jobs in the meat-processing plants in the state has been a major draw for immigrants searching for a life where jobs, quality education, and a reasonable cost of living are within reach.
Similar to the story of Somalis in Columbus, a large number of Somalis arrived in the Twin Cities after civil war erupted in their homeland around 1991. Minnesota’s history with refugee resettle-ment was an important precursor to the arrival of Somalis. The net-works and voluntary agencies that aided Hmong refugees a decade earlier were well established (Yusuf 2012, 42). In Minnesota, as in
9. See http://education.mnhs.org/immigration/communities/hmong.
other parts of the nation, refugees receive federal, state, and local support for a period of time to help with their economic and social transition (Singer and Wilson 2006), but Minnesota is an outlier in terms of its social service benefits: 28 percent of state revenues go to social welfare programs (Ali 2011, 90). Minnesota’s generous social service benefits, strong public school and university systems, employ-ment options, and reasonable cost of living played comparatively pos-itive roles for Somalis who settled in the state. The area also boasts a large number of nonprofits, homeless shelters, and food banks (90).
As a result, Somalis and other East Africans, including Ethiopians and Kenyans, began arriving in increasing numbers in the 1990s.
Table 3.1 reflects the changes in St. Paul’s foreign-born population from 1980 to 2010. After the Hmong population, East Africans are the largest foreign-born population in that city, a figure that includes Somalis. Table 3.2 illustrates the population by country of origin in Minneapolis, where East Africans, including Somalis, constitute the largest percentage of the foreign-born population.
TABLE 3.1. FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION BY COUNTRY OF BIRTH, ST. PAUL, 2009–2013 ESTIMATES
Country Foreign-born population
by birth country % Foreign-born population by birth country
Laos 8,935 17.3%
East Africa,
including Somalia* 8,222 15.9%
Mexico 7,041 13.6%
Thailand 6,997 13.6%
Burma 3,254 6.3%
Vietnam 1,970 3.8%
El Salvador 1,681 3.3%
China 1,360 2.6%
Other (including all
populations < 2%) 12,149 23.5%
Total 51,609 100.0%
Source: Data from U.S. Census Bureau, 2009–2013 American Community Survey.
*Includes Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mozam-bique, Reunion, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda, Zabia, and Zimbabwe.
Although the rich diversity of refugees-turned-Minnesotans of-fers the state many benefits, the receiving community has also faced some important challenges. Mental health problems are an issue for many Somalis in the United States who came to the country as refu-gees. The majority have experienced some level of trauma, and for some, the experiences were extreme. For this reason, the Twin Cit-ies region has developed a mental health infrastructure to serve this population. The same issues exist in Columbus, but the mental health infrastructure specifically for refugees there is not as comprehensive as that found in the Twin Cities, or in Minnesota more broadly. The Amherst H. Wilder Foundation in St. Paul has researched the impli-cations of the mental health of refugees (Thao 2009). Unmet mental health needs, coupled with economic hardship, can make life very challenging for refugees, who also face the stigma associated with asking for help. Therefore, many vulnerable Somalis have resorted to living in homeless shelters in increasing numbers, according to
TABLE 3.2. FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION BY COUNTRY OF BIRTH, MINNEAPOLIS, 2009–2013 ESTIMATES
Country Foreign-born population
by birth country % Foreign-born popula-tion by birth country East Africa, including
Somalia* 13,876 23.5%
Mexico 12,156 20.5%
Ecuador 4,444 7.5%
Laos 2,955 5.0%
China 2,505 4.2%
India 2,102 3.6%
Korea 2,023 3.4%
Thailand 1,667 2.8%
Other (including all
population < 2%) 17,438 29.5%
Total 59,166 100.0%
Source: Data from U.S. Census Bureau, 2009–2013 American Community Survey.
*Includes Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mozam-bique, Reunion, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda, Zabia, and Zimbabwe.
several Somali community leaders queried in this study (Twin Cities community leader interview, June 3, 2014; Twin Cities community leader interview B, June 3, 2014).