A Small Minnesota Town Defends Somali Residents as Critical to the Economy
WILLMAR, Minn.—Nearly 30 years ago in this small agricultural town, resident Pablo Obregon did a double take at a group waiting for the bus downtown on the first day of school. They were Somali children. “Where did they come from?” he recalls wondering. Obregon, now Willmar’s director of community growth, is no longer surprised when he sees large numbers of Somalis.
So many have settled here that a lively stretch downtown is called Little Mogadishu because Somalis run more than a dozen storefront businesses. In winter it isn’t uncommon to see Somalis in traditional dress bundled up in big American-style parkas and stocking caps worn over hijabs. Somalis represent about a quarter of production workers at the Jennie-O turkey plant, the economic engine of this community of nearly 22,000 some 95 miles west of Minneapolis.
But in recent days, downtown’s strip of restaurants, groceries and clothing stores has been attracting only a few customers, shopkeepers say. ICE raids are ramping up in Minnesota, and President Trump has lashed out against immigrants from Somalia, calling them “garbage” and saying he doesn’t want them in the U.S.
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A Minneapolis man pleaded guilty in February to fraud that included using the address of a Willmar restaurant to claim that he fed 1.6 million meals to children early in the pandemic, according to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota. Local leaders say the scandal doesn’t reflect the Somali community broadly. “I can honestly say I haven’t encountered any bad Somalis,” said Willmar Mayor Doug Reese. “I mean, there’s probably some, but by and large, they’re good people.”
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The Somalis arriving in the past few decades have changed the face of downtown, renting apartments and opening businesses in the storefronts. Some display colorful clothing and rugs, and many of the restaurants serve a traditional Somali spiced tea with steamed milk and lots of sugar. “They are very entrepreneurial,” said Obregon, Willmar’s community-growth director. Now Hispanic and Somali children make up the majority of children in the local school.
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Somalis are an important part of the plant’s strong culture, said Hunter Pagel, head of human resources at the plant, which is owned by Hormel Foods. “We would struggle if we didn’t have the team members working on the floor,” he said. “There’s only so much you can automate. There’s something about the human touch—they do a better job.”
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