Where refugees in Washington are arriving from
Where refugees in Washington 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 Washington in January 2023.
January refugee statistics
Countries where refugees arrived from in January
Washington
#1. Ukraine: 51
#2. Afghanistan: 19
#3. Syria: 14
#4. Democratic Republic of the Congo: 7
#5. Eritrea: 6
#6. Honduras: 5
#7. Guatemala: 4
#8. Moldova: 3
#9. Colombia: 2
#9. Somalia: 2
#11. Ethiopia: 1
#11. Iran: 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 Washington has accepted the most refugees from since January 2023
#1. Ukraine
Refugees that arrived from Ukraine since January 2023
Washington: 177
National: 513
Top states
#1. Washington: 177
#2. California: 97
#3. South Carolina: 35
#4. Pennsylvania: 30
#5. New York: 26
#2. Afghanistan
Refugees that arrived from Afghanistan since January 2023
Washington: 87
National: 1,192
Top states
#1. California: 226
#2. Texas: 139
#3. Virginia: 134
#4. Washington: 87
#5. New York: 68
#3. Syria
Refugees that arrived from Syria since January 2023
Washington: 49
National: 877
Top states
#1. Michigan: 112
#2. California: 62
#2. Pennsylvania: 62
#4. North Carolina: 52
#5. Washington: 49
#4. Democratic Republic of the Congo
Refugees that arrived from Democratic Republic of the Congo since January 2023
Washington: 29
National: 2,555
Top states
#1. Kentucky: 277
#2. Texas: 233
#3. Ohio: 189
#4. Arizona: 141
#5. Michigan: 123
#5. Honduras
Refugees that arrived from Honduras since January 2023
Washington: 20
National: 143
Top states
#1. Texas: 23
#2. Washington: 20
#3. Illinois: 14
#4. California: 10
#5. Maryland: 9
#6. Burma
Refugees that arrived from Burma since January 2023
Washington: 14
National: 1,170
Top states
#1. Wisconsin: 238
#2. Texas: 113
#3. Indiana: 110
#4. New York: 107
#5. Illinois: 66
#6. Eritrea
Refugees that arrived from Eritrea since January 2023
Washington: 14
National: 216
Top states
#1. New York: 23
#2. Tennessee: 22
#3. lowa: 15
#4. Washington: 14
#4. Ohio: 14
#8. Guatemala
Refugees that arrived from Guatemala since January 2023
Washington: 11
National: 486
Top states
#1. California: 54
#2. New York: 42
#3. North Carolina: 33
#4. Pennsylvania: 31
#4. Georgia: 31
#9. Uzbekistan
Refugees that arrived from Uzbekistan since January 2023
Washington: 10
National: 31
Top states
#1. Washington: 10
#2. Ohio: 8
#3. California: 6
#4. New York: 5
#5. Florida: 2
#9. Moldova
Refugees that arrived from Moldova since January 2023
Washington: 10
National: 106
Top states
#1. California: 33
#2. Massachusetts: 21
#3. Georgia: 18
#4. Washington: 10
#5. Minnesota: 6
#11. Ethiopia
Refugees that arrived from Ethiopia since January 2023
Washington: 7
National: 101
Top states
#1. Minnesota: 44
#2. lowa: 12
#3. Texas: 10
#4. Washington: 7
#4. Georgia: 7
#11. El Salvador
Refugees that arrived from El Salvador since January 2023
Washington: 7
National: 269
Top states
#1. North Carolina: 35
#2. Texas: 32
#3. California: 25
#3. Florida: 25
#5. Maryland: 22
#13. Russia
Refugees that arrived from Russia since January 2023
Washington: 6
National: 16
Top states
#1. Washington: 6
#2. California: 5
#2. South Carolina: 5
#14. Kyrgyzstan
Refugees that arrived from Kyrgyzstan since January 2023
Washington: 5
National: 8
Top states
#1. Washington: 5
#2. New York: 3
#14. Sudan
Refugees that arrived from Sudan since January 2023
Washington: 5
National: 212
Top states
#1. Idaho: 33
#2. California: 19
#2. New York: 19
#4. Kansas: 18
#5. Nebraska: 17
#16. Tajikistan
Refugees that arrived from Tajikistan since January 2023
Washington: 4
National: 8
Top states
#1. Minnesota: 4
#1. Washington: 4
#17. Somalia
Refugees that arrived from Somalia since January 2023
Washington: 3
National: 174
Top states
#1. Minnesota: 54
#2. Ohio: 19
#3. New York: 13
#4. Georgia: 12
#5. Pennsylvania: 10
#17. Venezuela
Refugees that arrived from Venezuela since January 2023
Washington: 3
National: 154
Top states
#1. Florida: 52
#2. Illinois: 15
#3. Pennsylvania: 12
#4. Texas: 9
#5. Kentucky: 8
#19. Colombia
Refugees that arrived from Colombia since January 2023
Washington: 2
National: 339
Top states
#1. North Carolina: 44
#2. New York: 39
#3. Texas: 36
#4. Florida: 27
#5. Pennsylvania: 24
#20. Iran
Refugees that arrived from Iran since January 2023
Washington: 1
National: 58
Top states
#1. California: 25
#2. Arizona: 6
#3. Illinois: 5
#4. New Jersey: 4
#5. Texas: 3
#20. Senegal
Refugees that arrived from Senegal since January 2023
Washington: 1
National: 31
Top states
#1. North Carolina: 6
#2. Massachusetts: 4
#2. Michigan: 4
#4. New York: 3
#4. South Carolina: 3
