IMMIGRANTS BUILT MINNESOTA’S ECONOMY AND CULTURE. THEY STILL DO.

Let’s recognize the vital role Minnesota’s new immigrants play in the economy and cultivate their skills to take on the high-demand careers of the future, writes Hamse Warfa, deputy commissioner at the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.

ST. PAUL — I have a personal perspective on the many contributions of foreign-born Minnesotans. Like many of the more than 70,000 of my fellow Minnesotans, I was born in Somalia. 

My parents were entrepreneurs and we lived a good life in Mogadishu until the civil war broke out when I was 10. The violence forced us to flee and we spent more than three years in refugee camps in Kenya before my family arrived in the United States.

Many Somali Minnesotans had to start over in their careers when they arrived here and they are working hard to make a good life in their new homeland. This hard work benefits our state in many ways.  

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