Where do the refugees arriving in Alabama come 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 Alabama in January 2023.
4. Guatemala
Refugees that arrived from Guatemala since January 2023
Alabama: 2
National: 486
Top states
#1. California: 54
#2. New York: 42
#3. North Carolina: 33
#4. Pennsylvania: 31
#4. Georgia: 31
3. El Salvador
Refugees that arrived from El Salvador since January 2023
Alabama: 3
National: 269
Top states
#1. North Carolina: 35
#2. Texas: 32
#3. California: 25
#3. Florida: 25
#5. Maryland: 22
2. Colombia
Refugees that arrived from Colombia since January 2023
Alabama: 6
National: 339
Top states
#1. North Carolina: 44
#2. New York: 39
#3. Texas: 36
#4. Florida: 27
#5. Pennsylvania: 24
Women wait to greet the Countess of Wessex outside the Panzi Foundation, Bukavu, South Kivu Province, where Her Royal Highness visited to learn more about the holistic approach that has helped to rehabilitate over 70,000 survivors of conflict-related sexual violence since 1999. As well as healing physical wounds, the team works with survivors to overcome their trauma, and support their reintegration into society, helping them to rebuild their lives and bring their abusers to justice. Picture date: Tuesday October 4, 2022. (Photo by Jane Barlow/PA Images via Getty Images)PA Images via Getty Images
1. Democratic Republic of the Congo
Refugees that arrived from Democratic Republic of the Congo since January 2023
Alabama: 12
National: 2,555
Top states
#1. Kentucky: 277
#2. Texas: 233
#3. Ohio: 189
#4. Arizona: 141
#5. Michigan: 123