Last week someone asked me to have a look at the numbers of Somalis admitted to the US since 9/11.
It so happens that the US State Department site, Refugee Processing Center (Wrapsnet) has the data very nicely organized since 2002, so the request was pretty easy to accomplish.
However, prior to that year, one must pour over ORR Annual Reports to pull the numbers together.
In 2008, I wrote this post (updated too) and showed you what I found at those Annual Reports.
Here are the Somali refugee admissions from 1983-2002. Remember! These are only the direct refugee admissions and do not include Temporary Protected Status holders, successful asylum seekers who appeared at our borders, illegal entrants, or the family members brought in throughout the years.
And, if you are thinking this doesn’t seem high enough, remember there have been 35 years of population growth!
1983-93: 4,413
1994: 3,508
1995: 2,524
1996: 6,440
1997: 4,948
1998: 2,952
1999: 4,321
2000: 6,002
2001: 4,940
2002: 242 (Guesses why this is so low? 9/11 freaked everyone out!)
By the way, when you go to my 2008 post see that GW Bush was bringing in huge numbers of Somalis.
Now this is a screenshot of the numbers beginning in FY2002 from Wrapsnet:
This puts the total number of Somalis admitted by direct refugee resettlement at 143,875 beginning in 1983 and up to June 11, 2018.
(We bring them in from anywhere in the world, but most come from UN camps in Kenya. Why is their dysfunctional country our problem after 3 decades?)
Since 2002, the big winner is Minnesota with 16,603 followed by OH (7,982), TX (7,501), NY (6,679), and AZ (6,030).
See one of my all-time top posts about how and why Minnesota was targeted.
Got some time on your hands, explore Wrapsnet here.
You can even learn what towns and cities in each state ‘welcomed’ the Somali Muslims.