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Where refugees in Kentucky are arriving from

Within five months after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in early February 2022, the U.S. admitted more than 100,000 Ukrainian refugees. Most of these refugees were admitted through a special program called humanitarian parole, which falls outside the scope of the data tracking carried out by the Refugee Processing Center. Humanitarian parole allows refugees who meet certain criteria to gain temporary legal status in the U.S. and applications are processed differently than traditional refugee resettlement applications.

During September 2022, the U.S. admitted most refugees from either the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burma (also referred to as Myanmar), or Syria, with about 60% of all refugees admitted hailing from one of those three countries. Each nation struggles with a unique set of circumstances that can make their citizens unsafe if they stay in their home country.

For the last three decades, the DRC has been struggling with a vast humanitarian crisis that has left millions of people displaced, both internally and externally, with many people fleeing to neighboring countries. Myanmar’s sitting government is currently engaged in a war against its people and the country is expected to have approximately 1.2 million refugees seeking asylum by the end of 2022. Syria has seen nearly 7 million refugees leave the country since 2011 while a longstanding civil war rages and has displaced an additional nearly 7 million people internally.

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 September 2022.

September refugee statistics
Countries where refugees arrived from in September
Kentucky
#1. Democratic Republic of the Congo: 244
#2. Burma: 21
#3. Syria: 19
#4. Ukraine: 14
#5. Burundi: 13
#6. Afghanistan: 8
#7. Cameroon: 1

National
#1. Democratic Republic of the Congo: 2,181
#2. Burma: 658
#3. Syria: 493
#4. Afghanistan: 429
#5. Ukraine: 370

States that accepted the most refugees in September
#1. Texas: 489
#2. California: 363
#3. Washington: 328
#4. Ohio: 325
#5. Kentucky: 320

Read on to see the countries that Kentucky has accepted the most refugees from since October 2022

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#1. Democratic Republic of the Congo

Refugees that arrived from Democratic Republic of the Congo since October 2022
Kentucky: 919

National: 7,810
Top states
#1. Kentucky: 919
#2. Texas: 719
#3. Ohio: 535
#4. Arizona: 419
#5. North Carolina: 371

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#2. Syria

Refugees that arrived from Syria since October 2022
Kentucky: 174

National: 4,556
Top states
#1. California: 514
#2. Michigan: 446
#3. Texas: 358
#4. Pennsylvania: 350
#5. New York: 316

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#3. Burma

Refugees that arrived from Burma since October 2022
Kentucky: 54

National: 2,156
Top states
#1. Wisconsin: 323
#2. New York: 218
#3. Texas: 212
#4. Indiana: 155
#5. Illinois: 148

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#4. Sudan

Refugees that arrived from Sudan since October 2022
Kentucky: 38

National: 1,669
Top states
#1. North Carolina: 132
#2. Texas: 107
#3. New York: 86
#4. Nebraska: 81
#5. Idaho: 80

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#5. Ukraine

Refugees that arrived from Ukraine since October 2022
Kentucky: 24

National: 1,610
Top states
#1. Washington: 472
#2. California: 353
#3. New York: 112
#4. Pennsylvania: 73
#5. Oregon: 71

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#6. Somalia

Refugees that arrived from Somalia since October 2022
Kentucky: 17

National: 456
Top states
#1. Minnesota: 128
#2. Ohio: 49
#3. New York: 29
#4. Washington: 24
#5. Arizona: 21

Canva

#7. Afghanistan

Refugees that arrived from Afghanistan since October 2022
Kentucky: 14

National: 1,618
Top states
#1. California: 270
#2. Texas: 209
#3. Virginia: 201
#4. Colorado: 113
#5. Washington: 88

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#7. Burundi

Refugees that arrived from Burundi since October 2022
Kentucky: 14

National: 185
Top states
#1. Tennessee: 19
#2. Texas: 18
#3. Wisconsin: 14
#3. Idaho: 14
#3. Oregon: 14

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#9. Rwanda

Refugees that arrived from Rwanda since October 2022
Kentucky: 8

National: 88
Top states
#1. Texas: 19
#2. North Carolina: 12
#3. Idaho: 11
#4. New York: 9
#5. Kentucky: 8

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#10. Iran

Refugees that arrived from Iran since October 2022
Kentucky: 5

National: 255
Top states
#1. California: 71
#2. Texas: 42
#3. Washington: 17
#3. Georgia: 17
#5. Virginia: 16

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#11. Ethiopia

Refugees that arrived from Ethiopia since October 2022
Kentucky: 3

National: 252
Top states
#1. Minnesota: 97
#2. Maryland: 23
#3. Washington: 22
#4. Colorado: 15
#5. Georgia: 13

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#12. Eritrea

Refugees that arrived from Eritrea since October 2022
Kentucky: 2

National: 325
Top states
#1. Georgia: 32
#2. Iowa: 30
#3. Arizona: 27
#4. Washington: 23
#5. Ohio: 20

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#12. Republic of South Sudan

Refugees that arrived from Republic of South Sudan since October 2022
Kentucky: 2

National: 293
Top states
#1. Arizona: 41
#2. North Carolina: 32
#3. Maryland: 25
#4. Nebraska: 24
#5. Utah: 20

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#14. Cameroon

Refugees that arrived from Cameroon since October 2022
Kentucky: 1

National: 2
Top states
#1. Kentucky: 1
#1. Colorado: 1