Where refugees in Missouri are arriving from
LUIS ROBAYO/AFP via Getty Images
Where refugees in Missouri 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 Missouri in January 2023.
January refugee statistics
Countries where refugees arrived from in January
Missouri
#1. Democratic Republic of the Congo: 35
#2. Guatemala: 18
#3. El Salvador: 7
#4. Burma: 5
#5. Honduras: 4
#5. Venezuela: 4
#7. Colombia: 3
#8. Bhutan: 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 Missouri 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
Missouri: 121
National: 2,555
Top states
#1. Kentucky: 277
#2. Texas: 233
#3. Ohio: 189
#4. Arizona: 141
#5. Michigan: 123
Canva
#2. Afghanistan
Refugees that arrived from Afghanistan since January 2023
Missouri: 26
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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#3. Guatemala
Refugees that arrived from Guatemala since January 2023
Missouri: 20
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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#4. Syria
Refugees that arrived from Syria since January 2023
Missouri: 17
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. Burma
Refugees that arrived from Burma since January 2023
Missouri: 10
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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#6. Ukraine
Refugees that arrived from Ukraine since January 2023
Missouri: 9
National: 513
Top states
#1. Washington: 177
#2. California: 97
#3. South Carolina: 35
#4. Pennsylvania: 30
#5. New York: 26
Matyas Rehak // Shutterstock
#7. Sudan
Refugees that arrived from Sudan since January 2023
Missouri: 8
National: 212
Top states
#1. Idaho: 33
#2. California: 19
#2. New York: 19
#4. Kansas: 18
#5. Nebraska: 17
Kellys Portillo/APHOTOGRAFIA //Getty Images
#8. El Salvador
Refugees that arrived from El Salvador since January 2023
Missouri: 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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#9. Eritrea
Refugees that arrived from Eritrea since January 2023
Missouri: 6
National: 216
Top states
#1. New York: 23
#2. Tennessee: 22
#3. lowa: 15
#4. Washington: 14
#4. Ohio: 14
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#10. Iraq
Refugees that arrived from Iraq since January 2023
Missouri: 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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#10. Somalia
Refugees that arrived from Somalia since January 2023
Missouri: 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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#12. Honduras
Refugees that arrived from Honduras since January 2023
Missouri: 4
National: 143
Top states
#1. Texas: 23
#2. Washington: 20
#3. Illinois: 14
#4. California: 10
#5. Maryland: 9
LUIS ROBAYO/AFP via Getty Images
#12. Venezuela
Refugees that arrived from Venezuela since January 2023
Missouri: 4
National: 154
Top states
#1. Florida: 52
#2. Illinois: 15
#3. Pennsylvania: 12
#4. Texas: 9
#5. Kentucky: 8
Matyas Rehak // Shutterstock
#14. Colombia
Refugees that arrived from Colombia since January 2023
Missouri: 3
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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#15. Bhutan
Refugees that arrived from Bhutan since January 2023
Missouri: 1
National: 17
Top states
#1. Ohio: 6
#2. Kentucky: 4
#2. Michigan: 4
#4. Massachusetts: 2
#5. Missouri: 1
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#15. Burundi
Refugees that arrived from Burundi since January 2023
Missouri: 1
National: 57
Top states
#1. Pennsylvania: 10
#2. Kentucky: 8
#3. New York: 6
#3. Idaho: 6
#3. Texas: 6
