How did Minnesota become a hub for Somali-Americans?

While attending the University of Minnesota, Lakeville native Erik Borg wondered how the Twin Cities came to have such a large population of Somali-Americans. Many, he noticed, lived near the campus.

"I was just kind of curious how a place like Minneapolis becomes home to a thriving population of Somali immigrants," said Borg.

He, along with several other readers, posed the question to Curious Minnesota, a community-driven reporting project fueled by questions from inquisitive readers.

The state has 52,333 people who report Somali ancestry — the largest concentration of Somalis in America — according to the American Community Survey in 2017. How they ended up in the Upper Midwest is a combination of available jobs and a generally welcoming populace. That success then built on itself, leading to more arrivals.

The United States began issuing visas to Somali refugees displaced by civil war in the early 1990s. Initially, many settled in other parts of the country, particularly San Diego. But they often struggled to find work.

Word spread that meat processing plants in rural Minnesota offered opportunity, and Somalis showed up to take those jobs in the early '90s.

"Although many different paths brought people to the state, in truth the unskilled workers who found jobs in Marshall and then loudly blew the whistle were the greatest inspiration to the Somalis who chose Minnesota for their new home," wrote Ahmed Yusuf in his book Somalis in Minnesota.

Many Somalis also migrated here directly from Africa, so-called primary refugees. As more Somalis formed a larger community, they drew even more friends and family members who wanted to be among their own.

The state began accepting Somali primary refugee arrivals in 1993. Primary refugee arrivals remained at several hundred a year throughout the '90s and exploded in the 2000s, reaching a peak of 3,639 in 2006.

"I think we had a reputation for being a good place to raise a family, a good place to find employment, and a welcoming community, so those were really factors that attracted the families to want to come here," said Maureen Warren, vice president and chief family service officer at Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota, which helps in resettlement efforts.

The influx of Somali immigrants has sometimes stirred a backlash, particularly over their Muslim faith, in St. Cloud and elsewhere.

The number of new Somali refugees in Minnesota has fallen dramatically in recent years — dipping to 48 in 2018 — as President Donald Trump has dramatically reduced the number of refugees that America accepts.