By the numbers: A look at Minnesota’s large Somali community

MINNEAPOLIS – Many in Minnesota’s large Somali community have felt rattled since U.S. President Donald Trump’s election victory in November. Some asylum seekers have gone as far as braving the elements to cross into Canada illicitly to claim refugee status north of the border. Here is a look at the Somali community in Minnesota by the numbers:

— Census data estimates there were 10,000 Somali immigrants and their children living in Minnesota in 2000. By 2015, that population had grown to an estimated 40,000 to 65,000, says the Minnesota State Demographic Center.

— Of the refugees who came directly to Minnesota in 2015 upon their arrival in the United States, 45 per cent — 1,006 people — were from Somalia, data collected by the state’s refugee health program indicates.

— Of the 1,011 “secondary” refugees who arrived in the state in 2015, the vast majority — 933 — were from Somalia. Secondary refugees are people who initially resettled elsewhere in the country before coming to Minnesota.

— The 2015 American Community Survey says almost one-third of the more than 129,000 people in the United States reporting Somali ancestry lived in Minnesota.