When Minnesota was a new state, thousands of settlers arrived, many of them from Europe. But in recent decades, the state has attracted large numbers of Hmong and Somali refugees. There are also thousands of people from India, Ethiopia, the Philippines, Mexico and the People’s Republic of China living in Minnesota.
The state has become more racially diverse in the last 10 years, and demographers said that's especially true among children. About 83 percent of Minnesotans were white, non-Hispanic for the 2010 census, compared to 88 percent in 2000.
December 11, 2002 - Eight Minnesota Somalis came within a few hours of being deported earlier this week before a federal judge in Seattle granted them a temporary reprieve. The judge ordered the Immigration and Naturalization Service to halt all deportations of Somalis while a class-action lawsuit is resolved. The Seattle judge relied heavily on an order issued by a federal judge in Minneapolis last March that stopped the deportation of Somali Keyse Jama. That ruling stated that the United States cannot deport anyone to a country, including Somalia, that has no functioning government capable of receiving them. Kevin Magnuson was an attorney on the earlier deportation case. He says that before his litigation, the U.S. government deported 14 Somalis to their war-torn homeland, which has not had a unified government since 1991.
December 12, 2002 -
December 13, 2002 -
December 17, 2002 - Representatives of the Minnesota immigrant community are joining officials from the Immigration and Naturalization Service to encourage foreign visitors to comply with a new registration law. The U.S. government is requiring all non immigrant visitors from certain countries to register with the INS over the next two months. Minnesota Public Radio's Marisa Helms reports.
December 19, 2002 - Officials at the St. Cloud Times are suprised at the number of visitors to their Web site. The site gets as many hits as newspapers in larger communities. Part of the popularity is from a part of the site called "Story Chat". It's a special system that lets readers comment on specific stories. The St. Cloud Times is one of a handful of newspapers nationwide using the system. They say it allows readers to closely interact with the newspaper. But the conversations can get heated and sometimes offensive. And that has some questioning the value of "Story Chat". Mainstreet Radio's Tim Post reports.
December 20, 2002 - MPR’s Annie Feidt reports on a group of Hmong teenage girls from St. Paul leaving for Thailand and Laos to retrace the journey their parents took to this country. They're calling their trip "the Homeland Project."
December 26, 2002 - An anthropologist from Norway is studying the descendents of Norwegian immigrants in west central Minnesota. Sarah Lund wants people in her country to understand why Norwegian immigrants came to America and how they lived. Lund is focusing her research on the Norway Lake community north of Willmar. Sarah Lund grew up in Wisconsin, but she moved to Norway more than 30 years ago. Lund is an anthropology professor at the University of Oslo.
January 7, 2003 -
January 15, 2003 - On a 20-to-3 vote, a House committee yesterday Supporters say the measure is a tool for law enforcement to maintain public safety. Critics say the measure makes scapegoats of foreigners and is a form of racial profiling. Minnesota Public Radio's Marisa Helms reports.
January 15, 2003 - A U-S District judge in Seattle ruled the federal government's attempts to deport people to Somalia illegal. The historic decision not only continues a ban on deportations to the East African country, it also certifies a nationwide class of Somali petitioners. This new class-action status allows all Somalis, not just the individual plaintiffs, to be represented in the deportation litigation. The Seattle ruling relied heavily on an order issued by a federal judge in Minneapolis last March that declared the United States cannot deport people to a country that has no government capable of receiving them. Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, and human rights advocates say those returned to the country face torture and death. Kevin Magnuson is an attorney on Minnesota's Somali deportation case. He says the decision to give Somalis class status is a major milestone.