{"id":14219,"date":"2022-06-12T07:28:10","date_gmt":"2022-06-12T07:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/somalimagazine.so\/?p=14219"},"modified":"2022-07-02T16:05:42","modified_gmt":"2022-07-02T16:05:42","slug":"hamse-warfa-a-somali-american-has-taken-a-major-role-in-the-biden-administration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/somalimagazine.so\/so\/hamse-warfa-a-somali-american-has-taken-a-major-role-in-the-biden-administration\/","title":{"rendered":"Hamse Warfa, a Somali-American, has taken a major role in the Biden administration."},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"fnmMv geuMB alqtB wqIGQ \"><em class=\" \">Editor&#8217;s note: This story was originally published in January 2022. A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Hamse Warfa was the first Somali-American presidential appointee. Other Somali Americans have been appointed to presidential administrations prior to Warfa, including Hani Garabyare, during Barack Obama&#8217;s tenure. We regret the error.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"fnmMv geuMB alqtB wqIGQ \">The White House announced this week that Hamse Warfa will join the Biden administration &#8212; a Somali native who was inspired to enter public service because of the anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim sentiment during the 2016 election cycle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"fnmMv geuMB alqtB wqIGQ \">While not the first Somali-American to join a presidential administration, Warfa is one of the highest-ranking &#8212; a senior adviser to the State Department on civilian security, democracy and human rights. In that role, he will help develop strategies for protecting and promoting democracy at home and abroad.<\/p>\n<p class=\"fnmMv geuMB alqtB wqIGQ \">&#8220;My acceptance of this role is in direct response to President Biden&#8217;s call to action to protect and promote democracy,&#8221; he told ABC News.<\/p>\n<p class=\"fnmMv geuMB alqtB wqIGQ \">Warfa&#8217;s family fled Somalia after the country&#8217;s civil war started in 1991 and lived in various refugee camps across Kenya, he said. After arriving in the United States as a teenager in 1994 alongside his family, he received a bachelor&#8217;s degree in political science from San Diego State University and his master&#8217;s in organizational management and leadership from Springfield College in the same city. He moved to Minnesota in 2012 after he was recruited by the state&#8217;s largest philanthropic foundation, Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies, he explained.<\/p>\n<div class=\"snXP  FYsKf rNiFf  vABDa LKeu uJbEF \">\n<div>\n<div data-box-type=\"fitt-adbox-fitt-article-inline-outstream\">\n<div id=\"ad-slot-fitt-article-inline-outstream-796847\" class=\"Ad fitt-article-inline-outstream   ad-slot\" data-slot-type=\"fitt-article-inline-outstream\" data-slot-kvps=\"pos=fitt-article-inline-outstream-1\" data-google-query-id=\"CMONioOxp_gCFdSHhQod0XkE4A\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/21783347309\/abc-news\/abcnews.com\/web_1__container__\"><iframe id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/21783347309\/abc-news\/abcnews.com\/web_1\" tabindex=\"0\" title=\"3rd party ad content\" role=\"region\" name=\"google_ads_iframe_\/21783347309\/abc-news\/abcnews.com\/web_1\" width=\"1\" height=\"3\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" aria-label=\"Advertisement\" data-google-container-id=\"2\" data-load-complete=\"true\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"fnmMv geuMB alqtB wqIGQ \">The 2016 election season inspired Warfa to become more active in civic engagement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"fnmMv geuMB alqtB wqIGQ \">&#8220;The strong anti-immigrant, and anti-Muslim policy and actions, motivated me to organize and get more involved at the state level,&#8221; Warfa said. &#8220;Some of the Minnesota gubernatorial candidates talked about shutting down the refugee program, and in some cases, created fear about refugees in Minnesota, especially about Minnesota&#8217;s Muslim, Somali community.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"fnmMv geuMB alqtB wqIGQ \">In 2019, the Minnesota governor&#8217;s office appointed Warfa as deputy commissioner at the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, making him the highest-ranking Somali American official in the state&#8217;s executive branch, according to the department.<\/p>\n<p class=\"fnmMv geuMB alqtB wqIGQ \">Warfa&#8217;s list of accomplishments also includes being the co-founder of BanQu, Inc., a blockchain service created to broaden economic opportunities for low-income people across the globe, as well as the recipient of a 2016 Bush Fellowship, which is granted to help develop leadership skills, and an Ashoka Fellowship for social entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"fnmMv geuMB alqtB wqIGQ \">During his time in Minnesota government, he &#8220;successfully advocated for the largest job bill in state history, supplying workforce training to youth and adults,&#8221; according to his department.<\/p>\n<p class=\"fnmMv geuMB alqtB wqIGQ \">He served as an economic adviser to the Biden campaign, helping develop the administration&#8217;s plans to reverse the Muslim ban and increase refugee admission numbers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"fnmMv geuMB alqtB wqIGQ \">&#8220;When we talk about democracy, I want to make sure we talk about inclusive democracy,&#8221; he told ABC News. &#8220;I want to bring my both lived and professional experiences to help the administration expand access to those affected by government policies and actions.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"fnmMv geuMB alqtB wqIGQ \">&#8220;I want to see America live through its ideals in building multiethnic and multiracial democracy that protects everyone,&#8221; he added. &#8220;I hope people see in my example &#8212; from the refugee camp to representing America &#8212; hope for democracy and value of everyone&#8217;s voice and vote.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Editor&#8217;s note: This story was originally published in January 2022. A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Hamse Warfa was the first Somali-American presidential appointee. Other Somali Americans have been appointed to presidential administrations prior to Warfa, including Hani Garabyare, during Barack Obama&#8217;s tenure. We regret the error. The White House announced this [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14220,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-14219","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wararka-caalamka"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/somalimagazine.so\/so\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/somalimagazine.so\/so\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/somalimagazine.so\/so\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/somalimagazine.so\/so\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/somalimagazine.so\/so\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14219"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/somalimagazine.so\/so\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15260,"href":"https:\/\/somalimagazine.so\/so\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14219\/revisions\/15260"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/somalimagazine.so\/so\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/somalimagazine.so\/so\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/somalimagazine.so\/so\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/somalimagazine.so\/so\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}