How many Somali refugees were resettled in Minnesota between 1979 and 2017 and what sources support that total?
Executive summary
The most widely cited total for Somali refugees resettled in Minnesota between 1979 and 2017 is 23,915, a figure reported by the Minnesota Department of Health and repeated in multiple secondary fact-checking and reference sources [1] [2]. That number sits alongside other, narrower counts and broader population estimates—each using different definitions (refugee admissions, state-recorded arrivals, secondary movers, or census ancestry)—so reconciliation requires attention to what is being counted [1] [2] [3].
1. The headline number: 23,915 refugees (state health department figure)
The Minnesota Department of Health is cited as reporting that 23,915 refugees arrived in Minnesota from Somalia between 1979 and 2017, and that tally has been picked up by summaries such as the Wikipedia history of Somalis in Minneapolis–Saint Paul (which quotes the Health Department) and FactCheck.org’s debunking of a viral meme [1] [2]. These secondary sources attribute the figure to the state health agency; they do not publish the primary MDH spreadsheet in the excerpts provided, so reporting rests on MDH’s stated total as recorded by those outlets [1] [2].
2. A narrower administrative window: 13,582 (Minnesota DHS, 2005–2018)
A different administrative count comes from the Minnesota Department of Human Services, which is recorded in the same summary as listing 13,582 Somali refugees arriving in Minnesota between 2005 and 2018; that number covers a shorter and slightly shifted time window than the 1979–2017 MDH total, so it is not an alternative total for 1979–2017 but a complementary, more recent administrative snapshot [1].
3. Why totals differ: definitions, time windows, and secondary arrivals
Discrepancies among figures stem from differences in definitions (who counts as a “refugee” versus an immigrant or secondary arrival), the time periods used, and whether state counts include refugees initially placed elsewhere who later moved to Minnesota (“secondary arrivals”); Minnesota received an estimated 3,740 documented secondary arrivals from other states between 2010 and 2016, a flow that state officials note is not fully traceable in available data [1] [2]. Historical context also matters: the U.S. only began issuing refugee visas to Somalis in significant numbers in the early 1990s, which affects how early-year counts should be interpreted [3].
4. Broader population figures are not the same as refugee arrival totals
Several sources give much larger counts for the Somali-born or Somali-ancestry population in Minnesota—estimates ranging into the tens of thousands and even over 100,000 in recent reporting—but these reflect cumulative population (including U.S.-born children, later immigrants, and secondary movers), not the narrower tally of refugees resettled in a specific period [4] [5] [6]. Conflating refugee-arrival totals with present-day population estimates has propagated confusion in public debate and viral social-media claims [2].
5. Verdict and limits of the record
Based on the sources provided, the best-supported answer to the question as posed is: 23,915 Somali refugees resettled in Minnesota between 1979 and 2017, as reported by the Minnesota Department of Health and cited by Wikipedia and FactCheck.org [1] [2]. Alternative administrative tallies (such as 13,582 for 2005–2018 from the Minnesota Department of Human Services) and larger population estimates reflect different measures or time spans rather than straightforward contradictions [1]. The reporting here depends on secondary citations of state agencies; the underlying MDH or DHS raw datasets are not included among the provided sources, so this account relies on those agencies’ reported totals as recorded by the cited references [1] [2].