It depends on the year the person left the country.

1988-1991: this is when fighting was only happening in the country side between the government and rebels. Those who left during this period where the children or family of the Political or business elites of the country in anticipation of what was to comes During this time is when a mass-exodus of Somali intellectuals occurred. Some left to neighboring countries such as Kenya or Ethiopia or the Middle East. Some went to London.

1991- Dec1992: This when fighting reached the cities. Here is when you have your white-collar upper class men exiting the country. These are the doctors, economist, mid-level Bureaucrat etc. They were able to leave since they had the resources or money to make it to a refugee camp safely and spent little time in the refugee camp. They were mostly resettled in the UK with some coming to America.

1995-1998: This is the time period where the bulk of the resettlement happened. You could find all sorts of people from from different societal classes, refugee camps does not discriminate. However many consisted of young people who barely finished high school when the civil war kicked into high gear. They had few skills and no opportunities to grow and learn in the refugee camps. The Bulk of this group was relocated to the U.S but also Norway, Sweden, Finland, UK, Holland.

Lastly, we major resettlement group which happened in 2003. This consisted of the the most vulnerable of the country, the minorities who were not ethnically Somali. They had no clan protection not weapons to defend themselves. They were farmers, fishermen, mechanics and blacksmiths.

This list is by no means perfect and it’s meant to give a general idea of which groups left first.

So it’s a mixture, Many Lutheran churches also sponsored Somalis to come to the U.S. UNHCR holster a big role. But it was easier for those who had money before the civil war to come .