Most Somali people in America and Minnesota are citizens

Most people of Somali descent in America are citizens, including those living in Minnesota, according to estimates from the American Community Survey, an ongoing survey conducted by the Census Bureau.

Immigration enforcement agents have increased their presence in Minnesota in recent days as part of a targeted campaign ordered by President Donald Trump to deport undocumented Somali immigrants. ICE has arrested at least 12 people this month, including 5 from Somalia, in what it calls “Operation Metro Surge,” according to a U.S. Department of Homeland Security release.

Apart from Minnesota’s biting cold this week, one complication in Trump’s plan to deport Somalis from Minnesota through immigration enforcement is that the vast majority of Americans and Minnesotans of Somali descent are U.S. citizens, many of whom were born here.

Exact numbers on citizenship of Somali-Americans are unknown. The American Community Survey, which extrapolates its monthly sampling of selected households to the larger population through a weighting process, indicates that around 22,000 Somalis in America — 8.4% — are not citizens. In Minnesota, around 5,000 people of Somali descent are not citizens, according to ACS. That figure includes people here through other legal means, such as permanent residents, green card holders and the couple hundred covered by Temporary Protected Status, a protection Trump said he would end earlier than planned.

That number has decreased significantly since the start of the century. According to ACS data from IPUMS, a database housed at the University of Minnesota, over 78% of people with Somali ancestry in America weren’t citizens in 2001, about a decade after the start of a Somali Civil War created a worldwide diaspora.

In Minnesota, the number of Somali non-citizens went from over 76% in 2001 to 9% in 2023. In the same period, U.S.-born people of Somali descent rose from 19% to nearly 39% of all Somalis as families settled here and had children.

Estimates for how many people of Somali descent live in the country and in Minnesota vary by source and time. The decennial census, which is sent to all households every 10 years, estimated in 2020 that there were around 91,000 Somalis in Minnesota and 221,000 Somalis nationwide. The American Community Survey estimated that in 2024, there were around 108,000 residents of Somali descent in Minnesota and 259,000 in America.

The numbers could be off by around 10,000 to 20,000, and the precise number of Somalis in the state and country is unknowable. Still, all estimates indicate that Minnesota is home to the largest Somali population in the country.

Tim Henderson at Stateline contributed reporting.