Category:Immigrant Rights Organizations

from the Macalester Public Knowledge Base

DID YOU KNOW?

- 14.4% of Twin Cities residents are immigrants to the United States, compared to 7% in 1990.

- Of those who were born outside of the United States:

• 57% were born in Asia (23,250 people)
• 22% were born in Latin America (9,150)
• 11% were born in Africa (4,700)
• 8% were born in Europe (3,250)

- Immigrants and refugees account for about one-quarter of the student body in the Minneapolis public schools and about one-third of the student body in the St. Paul public schools.

- According to the 2000 Census, the Hispanic population in the state increased by over 166 percent in the last decade. About 100,000 Hispanics live in the metropolitan area alone.

- The Twin Cities are home to the largest number of Hmong and Somali immigrants outside their homelands. There was also a significant influx of immigrants from Mexico and Central and South America in the 1990s.

- Minnesota Planning has estimated that there are 60,000 Hmong living in the entire state, but notes that the Twin Cities is home to 85-90 percent of the Hmong in Minnesota; 60-75 percent of those individuals live in St. Paul.

- Hmong are the second largest ethnic group in Minnesota (after Hispanics). Over 9 in 10 (93%) of the state¡¯s public school students who report speaking Hmong at home are in either Ramsey or Hennepin County.

- Survey results show that Somalis are the most likely of all recent immigrants in our community to be enrolled in English classes and to have an understanding of the language.

- The collapse of the Soviet union and widespread hardship has prompted a new wave of Russian immigration to Minnesota in the 1990¡¯s. Jewish Family Service of Saint Paul has resettled about 1,500 individuals from the former Soviet Union.

SAY HELLO!

  Hmong: ¡°NYOB ZOO¡± 
  Spanish: ¡°BUENOS DIAS¡± 
  Russian: ¡°ZDRAVSTVUYTE¡± or ¡°ZDOROVO¡± 
  Somali: ¡°MAHAA LA SHEEGAY¡± 

FASTEST-GROWING LANGUAGE GROUPS Twin Cities Children and Youth (1999-2000)

 Total  One-year  Where most students live 

students increase Hmong 19,761 8.5% St. Paul 64%

Minneapolis 25% 
Suburb Hennepin 4% 
Suburb Ramsey 3% 

Spanish 8,261 22.4% Minneapolis 34%

St. Paul 33% 
Suburb Hennepin 13% 
Dakota 7% 

Somali 1,848 33.2% Minneapolis 86%

Suburb Hennepin 7% 

Russian 1,372 15.2% Suburb Hennepin 51%

Dakota 19% 
Anoka 14% 

Yoruba 1,103 48.5% St. Paul 46% (West Suburb Hennepin 15% Africa) Dakota 13%

Anoka 11% 

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