Which Somali‑owned trucking companies operate in Minnesota and how many drivers do they employ?
Executive summary
Public reporting identifies several Minnesota trucking businesses with Somali ties — for example, Amaal Trucking Inc. in Willmar and Care Transportation LLC in Minneapolis — and highlights a large Somali presence in the industry, but none of the sources provided a reliable, comprehensive list of Somali‑owned trucking companies in Minnesota or definitive counts of how many drivers each employs [1] [2] [3]. Claims that “90%” of certain non‑emergency transportation firms are Somali‑owned circulate in commentary and partisan reporting, but those figures are unverified in the materials provided and should be treated with caution [4] [5].
1. What the public record actually names — a few verifiable companies
Business directory data and corporate web pages identify specific firms operating in Minnesota with Somali connections: Amaal Trucking Inc. is listed at a Willmar, Minnesota address in Dun & Bradstreet company records [1], and Care Transportation LLC markets itself from a Minneapolis headquarters with logistics operations tied to East Africa [2]. The Somali American Truckers site presents itself as a community resource and a directory‑style hub for Somali American drivers and owner‑operators, but it does not supply an authoritative registry of every Somali‑owned firm in Minnesota [6].
2. Claims about scale and the contested “90%” figure
Several pieces of commentary and online reporting assert that a very large share of Minnesota’s non‑emergency or small transportation companies are Somali‑owned — figures such as “more than 90%” of roughly 1,020 firms have been published and amplified by independent journalists and conservative outlets [4] [5]. Those claims are framed in reporting about alleged fraud in non‑emergency medical transportation, but the sources provided do not include primary government datasets, independent audits, or methodological transparency to substantiate the 90% number, so the claim remains uncorroborated in this dossier [4] [5].
3. What exists on driver counts — anecdote, community estimates, and reporting gaps
Longform reporting and community outlets document thousands of Somali Americans working as truck drivers nationally and significant Somali participation in Minnesota’s trucking workforce, including interviews with individual drivers and references to “thousands” of Somali American truckers, yet none of the supplied sources publish company‑level headcounts of drivers in Minnesota [3] [6] [7]. Dun & Bradstreet’s Amaal Trucking profile can provide employee estimates with a subscription, but the snippet here does not list a concrete driver total [1]. In short, there is evidence of robust Somali participation in trucking and named Somali‑linked companies, but no verifiable, public microdata in these sources that state “Company X employs Y drivers” for Minnesota Somali‑owned trucking firms.
4. Why the data gap matters and how to get better answers
The absence of transparent, company‑level employment figures in the provided reporting means firm‑by‑firm driver counts cannot be authoritatively reported here; partisan or sensational claims about prevalence should be treated skeptically without supporting datasets [4] [5]. To build a verified list and driver counts would require consulting Minnesota state business registries, Department of Transportation carrier records, IRS or payroll filings (where accessible under appropriate privacy rules), commercial business databases (full Dun & Bradstreet reports), and direct outreach to companies or community associations such as Somali American Truckers — approaches not present in the material provided [1] [6]. Alternative viewpoints exist within the provided sources: community and trade reporting emphasize immigrant entrepreneurship and individual success stories in trucking [3] [7], while partisan investigations emphasize alleged fraud and high concentrations of ownership [4] [5]; both angles are visible in the record but neither yields complete company‑level employment statistics here.