Safia Khan
In an age when skillful demagogues have again made nativism politically fashionable, Safia Khan’s story is a reminder that legal immigration is not a departure from the American story but central to it. For generations, immigrants have strengthened our democracy through service in the military, universities, hospitals, sciences, businesses, and government.
Khan was born in Karachi, Pakistan, in 1987. She grew up when opportunities for girls were sharply constrained and arranged marriages were common for young women.
Khan and her sisters became the first women in their family to graduate from high school. Of the sisters, however, only Safia attended college. She believes timing made the difference. Considerably younger than her sisters, she came of age as attitudes within her family and Pakistani society were beginning to change.
She dreamed of studying abroad, and her family supported her decision. In 2007, she left Pakistan to come legally to the United States.
Khan enrolled at Denison University in Granville, Ohio, as a Richard G. Lugar Fellow in Politics and Public Service, graduating in 2010. She later earned a Chief of Staff Certification from Harvard Business School.
Imagine the transition: from Karachi, one of the world’s largest cities with a population of 20 million, to an Ohio town of only a few thousand people. Khan crossed more than an ocean. She moved from a society offering women few educational opportunities to an American college campus, where she began building an independent life and ultimately a career in public service.
Today, Khan is Deputy Commissioner and Chief of Staff of the Minnesota Department of Corrections, appointed by Commissioner Paul Schnell in 2023. She helps oversee an agency with more than 4,000 employees and a biennial budget exceeding $1.6 billion, while serving as a principal liaison to the Governor’s Office and Minnesota Legislature.
Her rise through positions of increasing responsibility illustrates another democratic principle: effective government depends upon trained professionals selected for competence rather than personal loyalty. Her life also demonstrates the value of widening access to education.
Khan’s journey from Pakistan to Minnesota embodies the opportunities immigration has long offered. The United States needs a workable, fair immigration policy. It can regulate immigration without vilifying people whose principal offense is seeking a better life.
“It’s the risk that exists when you speak out in these times - that fear that has started to emerge is so dangerous because that is how you see people not feeling comfortable about showing up. Because at the end of the day, they want to go home to their kids and not end up in jail.”
ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA – MAY 8, 2026