By Yvette Higgins
The International Institute of Minnesota reunited about 500 immigrants and refugees with their families in 2024, according to its director of Refugee Services.
But whether the institute’s level of reunification activity drops with President Donald Trump’s starting back in office remains to be seen.
Since its creation in 1919, thousands of immigrants have become self-sufficient Americans with the help of the International Institute on Como Avenue in St. Paul, according to its website. In addition to resettlement programs, the institute offers courses in English language learning, job training, college preparation and citizenship support.
The institute serves clients from more that 100 countries around the world. Michelle Eberhard, refugee services director for the institute, said the institute has developed communities for these diverse families.
“We have really wonderful people here who do great work, and we have really wonderful people who come here for services,” Eberhard said. “You put that together and you have a really strong community.”
More than 300 volunteers—who tutor nursing students, assist in English classrooms and set up refugee homes—are essential members of this community, according to the website. The institute also relies on donors. It received $1.5 million from individual contributors in 2023, which was 17% of its total revenue.
Eberhard oversees the resettlement program at the institute, assisting refugees with core services such as housing and transportation in the first 90 days after their arrival. Later, the institute helps clients gain citizenship with a 94% success rate, according to the website.
After clients are resettled, they have the opportunity to enroll in extended programs and continue working with the institute for several years. These programs help clients achieve their dreams, Eberhard said.
One client, Sandra, from Peru, enrolled in the professional development program in 2022 and is now a senior stylist for Target Corp., according to the website.
More recently, the institute helped one African man reunite with his family after they had been separated for several years.
Eberhard said her job is to remind people of their strength and capability. “The families that we work with do make our communities a really strong, beautiful place.”
The institute helped more than 4,533 immigrants and refugees in 2023, which was a 38.5% increase from 2022, according to the website.
About 40% of clients in 2023 were sub-Saharan African, according to the website. In October and November 2024, 273 refugees arrived to in Minnesota from Somalia, the most of any country, according to the U.S. State Department’s Refugee Processing Center.
Fears for longer separations
Some clients at the institute fear they will face longer separations from their family members with President Trump back in office, according to Eberhard.
Trump plans to reinstate travel bans from his first term aimed at immigrants from several Muslim countries, including Somalia. During Trump’s last presidency, refugee admission rates fell from 84,994 individuals in 2016 to a record low of 11,814 in 2020, according to the German online data-gathering platform Statista.
“On day one of the Trump presidency, I will restore the travel ban, suspend refugee admission, stop the resettlement and keep terrorists the hell out of our country,” Trump said at a July rally in St. Cloud.
Eberhard said significantly fewer refugees came to the institute during Trump’s presidency. Her focus during these uncertain times is serving the clients who are here right now.
“We will adapt, and we will continue to serve people,” Eberhard said.
Yvette Higgins is an intern for the Park Bugle and a student at the University of Minnesota majoring in journalism and art.
Photo cutline: The International Institute of Minnesota, on Como Avenue, has been helping immigrants serves clients from more than 100 countries around the world. Photo by Yvette Higgins.