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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 January 2023, the greatest number of refugees admitted by the U.S. came from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Syria, and Afghanistan. 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. 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. Afghan refugees have been fleeing to neighboring countries for decades, especially Pakistan and Iran, which combined host nearly 2 million Afghans.

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 January 2023.

January refugee statistics
Countries where refugees arrived from in January
Kentucky
#1. Democratic Republic of the Congo: 106
#2. Afghanistan: 29
#3. Burma: 18
#4. Colombia: 11
#5. El Salvador: 7
#6. Syria: 2
#6. Guatemala: 2
#8. Somalia: 1

National
#1. Democratic Republic of the Congo: 752
#2. Afghanistan: 284
#3. Syria: 284
#4. Burma: 264
#5. Colombia: 193

States that accepted the most refugees in January
#1. Texas: 194
#2. Kentucky: 176
#3. California: 163
#4. Pennsylvania: 139
#5. Ohio: 127

Read on to see the countries that Kentucky has accepted the most refugees from since January 2023

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#1. Democratic Republic of the Congo

Refugees that arrived from Democratic Republic of the Congo since January 2023
Kentucky: 277

National: 2,555
Top states
#1. Kentucky: 277
#2. Texas: 233
#3. Ohio: 189
#4. Arizona: 141
#5. Michigan: 123

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#2. Burma

Refugees that arrived from Burma since January 2023
Kentucky: 46

National: 1,170
Top states
#1. Wisconsin: 238
#2. Texas: 113
#3. Indiana: 110
#4. New York: 107
#5. Illinois: 66

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#3. Afghanistan

Refugees that arrived from Afghanistan since January 2023
Kentucky: 36

National: 1,192
Top states
#1. California: 226
#2. Texas: 139
#3. Virginia: 134
#4. Washington: 87
#5. New York: 68

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#4. Syria

Refugees that arrived from Syria since January 2023
Kentucky: 30

National: 877
Top states
#1. Michigan: 112
#2. California: 62
#2. Pennsylvania: 62
#4. North Carolina: 52
#5. Washington: 49

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#5. Colombia

Refugees that arrived from Colombia since January 2023
Kentucky: 20

National: 339
Top states
#1. North Carolina: 44
#2. New York: 39
#3. Texas: 36
#4. Florida: 27
#5. Pennsylvania: 24

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#6. Ukraine

Refugees that arrived from Ukraine since January 2023
Kentucky: 16

National: 513
Top states
#1. Washington: 177
#2. California: 97
#3. South Carolina: 35
#4. Pennsylvania: 30
#5. New York: 26

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#7. Honduras

Refugees that arrived from Honduras since January 2023
Kentucky: 9

National: 143
Top states
#1. Texas: 23
#2. Washington: 20
#3. Illinois: 14
#4. California: 10
#5. Maryland: 9

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#8. Guatemala

Refugees that arrived from Guatemala since January 2023
Kentucky: 8

National: 486
Top states
#1. California: 54
#2. New York: 42
#3. North Carolina: 33
#4. Pennsylvania: 31
#4. Georgia: 31

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#8. Venezuela

Refugees that arrived from Venezuela since January 2023
Kentucky: 8

National: 154
Top states
#1. Florida: 52
#2. Illinois: 15
#3. Pennsylvania: 12
#4. Texas: 9
#5. Kentucky: 8

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#8. Burundi

Refugees that arrived from Burundi since January 2023
Kentucky: 8

National: 57
Top states
#1. Pennsylvania: 10
#2. Kentucky: 8
#3. New York: 6
#3. Idaho: 6
#3. Texas: 6

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#11. El Salvador

Refugees that arrived from El Salvador since January 2023
Kentucky: 7

National: 269
Top states
#1. North Carolina: 35
#2. Texas: 32
#3. California: 25
#3. Florida: 25
#5. Maryland: 22

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#12. Iraq

Refugees that arrived from Iraq since January 2023
Kentucky: 5

National: 127
Top states
#1. Michigan: 31
#2. North Carolina: 9
#2. Texas: 9
#2. Ohio: 9
#2. Massachusetts: 9

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#12. Somalia

Refugees that arrived from Somalia since January 2023
Kentucky: 5

National: 174
Top states
#1. Minnesota: 54
#2. Ohio: 19
#3. New York: 13
#4. Georgia: 12
#5. Pennsylvania: 10

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#14. Eritrea

Refugees that arrived from Eritrea since January 2023
Kentucky: 4

National: 216
Top states
#1. New York: 23
#2. Tennessee: 22
#3. lowa: 15
#4. Washington: 14
#4. Ohio: 14

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#14. Bhutan

Refugees that arrived from Bhutan since January 2023
Kentucky: 4

National: 17
Top states
#1. Ohio: 6
#2. Kentucky: 4
#2. Michigan: 4
#4. Massachusetts: 2
#5. Missouri: 1

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#16. Guinea

Refugees that arrived from Guinea since January 2023
Kentucky: 2

National: 19
Top states
#1. Illinois: 11
#2. Pennsylvania: 3
#3. Kentucky: 2
#3. Massachusetts: 2
#5. North Carolina: 1

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#16. Sudan

Refugees that arrived from Sudan since January 2023
Kentucky: 2

National: 212
Top states
#1. Idaho: 33
#2. California: 19
#2. New York: 19
#4. Kansas: 18
#5. Nebraska: 17

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#18. Pakistan

Refugees that arrived from Pakistan since January 2023
Kentucky: 1

National: 71
Top states
#1. Pennsylvania: 25
#2. New York: 15
#3. Georgia: 10
#4. Indiana: 6
#5. California: 5