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Where refugees in Kentucky are arriving from

The United States has officially accepted more than 100,000 Ukrainian refugees since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine earlier this year. The vast majority of these refugees are entering the country on humanitarian parole, which grants them temporary legal status in the U.S. These types of admittances are not tracked in the refugee case management system being used by the Refugee Processing Center.

Most of the refugees resettled in the United States through the official resettlement program are from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Syria. Both countries have complex histories rife with regional war, social unrest, political corruption, and unstable governance.

The DCR has more than 5.5 million internally displaced persons and more than half a million refugees and asylum seekers from neighboring countries impacted by regional conflicts dating back to the early 1990s. Syria is more than a decade into a civil war that began with a violent government crackdown on non-violent anti-government demonstrations. Since then, nearly 7 million Syrians have fled the country, and another 7 million are internally displaced.

Stacker referenced data from The Refugee Processing Center to compile statistics on the number of refugees and their countries of origin resettled in Kentucky in July 2022.

July refugee statistics
Countries where refugees arrived from in July
Kentucky
#1. Democratic Republic of the Congo: 129
#2. Sudan: 5
#3. Burma: 4
#4. Ethiopia: 3
#5. Somalia: 2

National
#1. Democratic Republic of the Congo: 1,182
#2. Syria: 270
#3. Burma: 218
#4. Afghanistan: 127
#5. Sudan: 103

States that accepted the most refugees in July
#1. California: 202
#2. Ohio: 166
#3. New York: 152
#4. North Carolina: 150
#5. Texas: 150

Read on to see the countries that Kentucky has accepted the most refugees from since October

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#1. Democratic Republic of the Congo

Refugees that arrived from Democratic Republic of the Congo since October
Kentucky: 569

National: 4,917
Top states
#1. Kentucky: 569
#2. Texas: 454
#3. Ohio: 277
#4. Arizona: 269
#5. North Carolina: 256

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#2. Syria

Refugees that arrived from Syria since October
Kentucky: 150

National: 3,795
Top states
#1. California: 415
#2. Michigan: 369
#3. Pennsylvania: 300
#4. New York: 289
#5. Texas: 249

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#3. Sudan

Refugees that arrived from Sudan since October
Kentucky: 38

National: 1,413
Top states
#1. North Carolina: 111
#2. Texas: 103
#3. New York: 72
#4. Idaho: 70
#5. Arizona: 68

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#4. Burma

Refugees that arrived from Burma since October
Kentucky: 25

National: 1,347
Top states
#1. New York: 179
#2. Wisconsin: 176
#3. Texas: 124
#4. Georgia: 94
#5. North Carolina: 91

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#5. Somalia

Refugees that arrived from Somalia since October
Kentucky: 17

National: 333
Top states
#1. Minnesota: 95
#2. Ohio: 31
#3. New York: 25
#4. Washington: 23
#5. Texas: 20

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#6. Ukraine

Refugees that arrived from Ukraine since October
Kentucky: 10

National: 1,126
Top states
#1. Washington: 332
#2. California: 225
#3. New York: 74
#4. Missouri: 58
#4. Pennsylvania: 58

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#7. Rwanda

Refugees that arrived from Rwanda since October
Kentucky: 8

National: 74
Top states
#1. Texas: 18
#2. Idaho: 11
#3. Kentucky: 8
#4. Oregon: 7
#4. New York: 7

Canva

#8. Afghanistan

Refugees that arrived from Afghanistan since October
Kentucky: 6

National: 971
Top states
#1. California: 184
#2. Virginia: 136
#3. Texas: 132
#4. Colorado: 78
#5. Washington: 61

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#9. Iran

Refugees that arrived from Iran since October
Kentucky: 5

National: 213
Top states
#1. California: 59
#2. Texas: 29
#3. Georgia: 17
#4. Virginia: 16
#5. Nevada: 13

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#10. Ethiopia

Refugees that arrived from Ethiopia since October
Kentucky: 3

National: 159
Top states
#1. Minnesota: 69
#2. Maryland: 17
#3. Colorado: 13
#4. Texas: 10
#5. Georgia: 7

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#11. Eritrea

Refugees that arrived from Eritrea since October
Kentucky: 2

National: 196
Top states
#1. Iowa: 18
#2. Washington: 16
#3. Georgia: 15
#4. Arizona: 14
#5. Texas: 13

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#12. Burundi

Refugees that arrived from Burundi since October
Kentucky: 1

National: 77
Top states
#1. Illinois: 13
#2. Michigan: 12
#3. Oregon: 10
#4. Idaho: 9
#5. Maryland: 6

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#12. Republic of South Sudan

Refugees that arrived from Republic of South Sudan since October
Kentucky: 1

National: 252
Top states
#1. Arizona: 41
#2. Maryland: 25
#3. Utah: 20
#4. Missouri: 19
#4. Texas: 19