Viral claim falsely suggests Obama sent 70,000 Somalis to Minnesota
A recurring claim on social media says former President Barack Obama deliberately resettled 70,000 Somali refugees in Minnesota, allegedly helping create the state’s large Somali-American population and paving the way for the election of Rep. Ilhan Omar.
The claim is false.
Federal refugee data show that 6,320 Somali refugees were resettled in Minnesota during Obama’s presidency, not 70,000, according to figures from the U.S. State Department’s Refugee Processing Center.
The larger number often cited online appears to confuse Minnesota’s overall Somali-American population with the number of Somali refugees resettled in the state during Obama’s administration.
Where did the 70,000 figure come from?
The number appears to have been connected to Census data showing that roughly 69,000 people in Minnesota reported Somali ancestry around the time the claim began circulating.
But Somali ancestry and refugee resettlement are two completely different measurements.
A person of Somali ancestry living in Minnesota may have arrived decades earlier, been born in the United States, entered the country through a different immigration pathway or moved to Minnesota from another U.S. state.
It would therefore be inaccurate to describe the entire Somali-American population as refugees personally resettled by one president.
Fact-checkers found that approximately 54,500 Somali refugees entered the United States during Obama’s eight years in office, with only about 6,320 settling in Minnesota.
Minnesota’s Somali community predates Obama
Minnesota’s Somali community did not begin with the Obama administration.
Somali migration to the United States expanded significantly during the 1990s following the collapse of Somalia’s government and the ensuing civil war.
Minnesota became one of the major destinations for Somali refugees and immigrants, with Minneapolis and St. Paul developing one of the largest Somali-American communities in the country.
By the time Obama entered the White House in January 2009, Minnesota already had an established Somali population.
That history is important because the viral claim presents the community as if it was suddenly created by a single presidential administration.
The numbers do not support that interpretation.
Refugee resettlement is not a presidential relocation program
Another problem with the claim is the suggestion that Obama personally decided to “park” 70,000 Somalis in Minnesota.
The U.S. refugee resettlement system is considerably more complicated.
Refugees are admitted through a federal process, while placement and resettlement involve government agencies, nonprofit organizations and state and local institutions.
The process also involves individual refugee circumstances and available resettlement capacity.
Minnesota became a major destination because it already had established immigrant and refugee communities, organizations capable of providing services and networks that could help newcomers establish themselves.
The numbers tell the story
The simplest way to understand the claim is to compare the numbers.
Viral claim:
70,000 Somali refugees were resettled in Minnesota by Obama.
Federal data:
6,320 Somali refugees were resettled in Minnesota during Obama’s administration.
Somali refugees admitted to the United States during the Obama years:
Approximately 54,000.
The difference is enormous.
The 6,320 figure represents less than one-tenth of the 70,000 figure circulating online.
What about Ilhan Omar?
The viral claim has frequently been tied to Rep. Ilhan Omar, suggesting that the supposed resettlement was part of a political strategy that helped elect her.
That argument also fails to account for the timeline.
Omar became the first Somali-American elected to the Minnesota Legislature in 2016 and was elected to the U.S. House in 2018.
But the Somali-American community in Minnesota had existed for decades before her congressional campaign.
Moreover, people admitted to the United States as refugees are not automatically eligible to vote. Refugee status and U.S. citizenship are separate legal categories.
A refugee must go through the applicable immigration and naturalization process before becoming a U.S. citizen eligible to vote in federal elections.
A community is more than a refugee statistic
The debate over immigration and refugee policy is legitimate.
Americans can disagree about how many refugees the United States should admit, where newcomers should be resettled and how government resources should be allocated.
But those debates should be based on accurate numbers.
Reducing Minnesota’s Somali-American community to a claim that one president “resettled 70,000 Somalis” creates a misleading picture of how the community developed.
Minnesota’s Somali population includes refugees, immigrants, U.S.-born children and grandchildren, naturalized citizens and people who have lived in the state for many years.
It is a community with a history that stretches well beyond the Obama presidency.
The verdict
The claim that Barack Obama resettled 70,000 Somali refugees in Minnesota is false.
According to federal refugee data cited by the Associated Press, 6,320 Somali refugees were resettled in Minnesota during the Obama administration, while approximately 54,000 Somali refugees were admitted to the United States during his presidency.
The 70,000 figure appears to have been confused with the much broader number of Minnesota residents who reported Somali ancestry.
The facts do not support the idea that Obama brought 70,000 Somali refugees to Minnesota.
The Somali-American community in Minnesota was already established before Obama entered office, and its history cannot accurately be attributed to a single president or administration.
