Number Of Refugees In Minnesota Rose In 2004

The number of international refugees in Minnesota returned to pre-Sept. 11 levels last year, thanks in part to a surge in East African immigrants. Minnesota ranked first in the nation in the number of foreign refugee arrivals in 2004 on a population-adjusted basis, according to federal figures. Last year, one refugee arrived for every 875 Minnesotans. That's more than four times the national rate. The state ranked third in the raw number of refugees arriving in 2004, trailing Florida and California. More than 7,300 refugees or people granted political asylum came to Minnesota last year, according to state Health Department figures. The figure includes people who came to Minnesota directly from another country, not those who settle in another state first. The government defines refugees as foreign-born people who can't return to their country because of a well-founded fear of prosecution. The number of refugees to come to Minnesota hit a low of 1,035 in 2002, when refugees were subjected to extra scrutiny after the terrorist attacks of 2001. The surge since then has forced settlement agencies to adjust. ``We're like a balloon. We expand, we contract to fit the needs of the various programs we're in. That is not fun,'' said John Borden, executive director of International Institute of Minnesota, which settles the largest share of the state's refugees. ``It's difficult to hire up real fast because we want people who are trained and knowledgeable about the cultures we're working with,'' Borden said. Refugees come to Minnesota to join family members already here. In 2004, a tide of several thousand Hmong from a Thai refugee camp came to join relatives who arrived in Minnesota years earlier. The post-Sept. 11 period was particularly hard on East Africans who wanted to join family here. Minnesota refugee specialists say East Africa's proximity to the Middle East, and the Islamic faith of many Somalis and Ethiopians, caused federal screeners to give them extra scrutiny. According to Health Department figures, the number of Somali refugee and asylum arrivals plunged from 2,175 in 2000 to 124 in 2002. ``It was hard because you knew that refugees were not involved in terror organizations,'' said Saaed Fahia, executive director of the Confederation of Somali Communities in Minnesota. ``There were more background checks of everybody, especially for young people,'' he said. ``They were checking who they were, whether their names were correct.'' But pressure built for the State Department to fulfill refugee quotas declared annually by the White House. The state welcomed 2,323 Somali refugees last year.