Hamse Warfa to join Biden administration, soon highest-ranking Somali appointee in Washington
This story comes to you from Sahan Journal, a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to covering Minnesota's immigrants and communities of color. Sign up for their free newsletter to receive their stories in your inbox.
Hamse Warfa, deputy commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, will be joining the Biden administration as a senior adviser to the State Department at the end of the month, making him the highest-ranking Somali presidential appointee in Washington.
Jan. 17 is Warfa’s last official day with DEED, where he served as the state’s highest-ranking African official. As the highest-ranking Somali in the Biden administration and the only Somali adviser in the State Department, he will play a key role in promoting democracy worldwide and in refugee admissions in the United States.
In a statement released by DEED Monday, Warfa thanked President Joe Biden for the appointment. He added: “As I prepare to represent all people of the United States, I am blessed by the colleagues, friends and family who supported my public service.”
Create a More Connected Minnesota
MPR News is your trusted resource for the news you need. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.
Warfa joins the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, a State Department office responsible for providing protections for displaced people. The Bureau also advises the president in determining the number of refugees the United States will accept in a given year. The refugee resettlement cap had previously been slashed to record lows under the Trump administration.
The Bureau also provides funding to resettlement agencies based on how many refugees they resettled in a year. Because arrivals were down under Trump, agencies struggled to continue operating. Resettlement agencies in Minnesota have spent the last year rebuilding infrastructure, hoping for more support from the State Department.
The Biden administration organized a Summit for Democracy on Dec. 9–10, which brought together 275 participants to discuss today’s threats to democracy. Hamse said his role at the State Department is part of the commitment discussed at the summit to promote democracy and human rights worldwide.
Warfa first came to the United States as a Somali refugee when he was a teenager in 1994. He studied political science and organizational management and built a career in both the public and private sector. In 2014, he published his autobiography, “America Here I Come: A Somali Refugee’s Quest for Hope.” As a Bush Fellow in 2016, Warfa founded BanQu, a blockchain service to provide access to credit and bank services for refugees. He also founded a consulting group to address poverty and economic opportunities for marginalized people.
In 2019, Gov. Tim Walz appointed Hamse as deputy commissioner, responsible for Minnesota’s employment, training, and grant-making programs. Warfa prioritized addressing economic disparities for communities of color in the state, and established the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs in 2020.
“I am confident Hamse will serve the people of the United States with the same integrity, policy expertise, and collaborative leadership that he provided for the people of Minnesota,” Walz said in a statement announcing Warfa’s appointment. “Hamse and his team at DEED advocated for the economic well-being of all Minnesotans during the pandemic and focused on ensuring workers and businesses had the resources and training to survive and thrive.”
Warfa wrote an op-ed for Sahan Journal in October about the role the state has played in refugee resettlement. He urged a new generation to step up and pursue roles in diplomacy and global leadership, especially in the wake of the Afghan refugee crisis.
“To meet the moment,” he wrote, “our diplomacy and global leadership also need new images, symbols, nuanced stories, and a new cadre of diverse leaders, including people who have lived and experienced global trauma.”