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Where refugees in Kentucky are arriving from

Within the first five months of Russia’s 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.

In November 2022, the greatest number of refugees admitted by the U.S. came from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, and Ukraine. 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.

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 November 2022.

November refugee statistics
Countries where refugees arrived from in November
Kentucky
#1. Democratic Republic of the Congo: 44
#2. Syria: 11
#3. Colombia: 9
#3. Ukraine: 9
#5. Burma: 8
#6. Afghanistan: 6
#6. Guatemala: 6
#8. Somalia: 3

National
#1. Democratic Republic of the Congo: 414
#2. Burma: 366
#3. Ukraine: 227
#4. Syria: 199
#5. Afghanistan: 169

States that accepted the most refugees in November
#1. California: 145
#2. New York: 136
#3. Texas: 132
#4. Pennsylvania: 131
#5. Washington: 123

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

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#1. Democratic Republic of the Congo

Refugees that arrived from Democratic Republic of the Congo since November 2022
Kentucky: 93

National: 1,032
Top states
#1. Kentucky: 93
#2. Ohio: 89
#3. Wisconsin: 60
#4. Pennsylvania: 54
#5. Michigan: 53

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#2. Syria

Refugees that arrived from Syria since November 2022
Kentucky: 28

National: 469
Top states
#1. Michigan: 64
#2. Washington: 35
#3. Ohio: 28
#3. Illinois: 28
#3. Kentucky: 28

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#3. Burma

Refugees that arrived from Burma since November 2022
Kentucky: 12

National: 582
Top states
#1. Wisconsin: 133
#2. Texas: 66
#3. Indiana: 56
#4. Georgia: 48
#5. New York: 42

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#3. Ukraine

Refugees that arrived from Ukraine since November 2022
Kentucky: 12

National: 299
Top states
#1. Washington: 102
#2. California: 58
#3. Pennsylvania: 25
#4. South Carolina: 24
#5. Ohio: 14

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#5. Colombia

Refugees that arrived from Colombia since November 2022
Kentucky: 9

National: 95
Top states
#1. Pennsylvania: 15
#2. Texas: 13
#2. South Carolina: 13
#2. North Carolina: 13
#5. Kentucky: 9

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#6. Afghanistan

Refugees that arrived from Afghanistan since November 2022
Kentucky: 8

National: 540
Top states
#1. California: 128
#2. Texas: 72
#3. Washington: 44
#4. New York: 43
#5. Virginia: 41

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#6. Venezuela

Refugees that arrived from Venezuela since November 2022
Kentucky: 8

National: 64
Top states
#1. Florida: 14
#2. Kentucky: 8
#2. Georgia: 8
#4. Texas: 7
#5. Illinois: 6

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#8. Guatemala

Refugees that arrived from Guatemala since November 2022
Kentucky: 6

National: 267
Top states
#1. California: 34
#2. New York: 26
#3. Florida: 23
#4. Georgia: 18
#4. North Carolina: 18

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#9. Somalia

Refugees that arrived from Somalia since November 2022
Kentucky: 4

National: 97
Top states
#1. Minnesota: 30
#2. Ohio: 15
#3. Georgia: 11
#4. Florida: 9
#5. South Dakota: 6

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#10. Pakistan

Refugees that arrived from Pakistan since November 2022
Kentucky: 1

National: 19
Top states
#1. Pennsylvania: 12
#2. New York: 5
#3. Arizona: 1
#3. Kentucky: 1

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#10. Sudan

Refugees that arrived from Sudan since November 2022
Kentucky: 1

National: 115
Top states
#1. Idaho: 25
#2. Utah: 15
#3. Kansas: 11
#3. New York: 11
#5. California: 9