Nearly 40 Percent of Ohio's Refugee Arrivals Are from Congo

Nearly 40 percent of the refugees resettled in the state of Ohio by the federal government since October 2023 come from one of the poorest, most war-torn nations on earth.

According to a report on refugee resettlement by state, 645 refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo have been resettled in Ohio over the past five months, dwarfing the number of refugees from any other country.

Ohio has accepted 1,631 refugees from across the globe since October 2023 as part of the Biden administration’s increase in refugee resettlement.

As reported by The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network:

The Central African country is the largest nation on the continent and the 11th largest in the world.

Congo has been engulfed in turmoil since it gained independence in 1960. The Second Congo War, which raged from 1998 to 2003 resulted in the deaths of nearly five and a half million people. The country’s only successful peaceful transfer of power occurred in 2018, though the country is still involved in military conflict in its eastern region. It is the fourth poorest country on earth.

Congo also tops the list of refugee arrivals in Tennessee and Arizona.

Middle Eastern countries are also highly represented among refugees brought to Ohio recently, including Syria and Afghanistan.

A total of 347 refugees from Syria have come to Ohio, while 118 have come from Afghanistan.

The Taliban have overtaken the latter nation after the withdrawal of American troops in 2021, which resulted in hundreds of Americans being left behind.

Somalia is also noteworthy in terms of refugee resettlement in Ohio.

The Buckeye State has taken in 110 Somali refugees over the last five months. For most of Somalia’s existence, it has been ruled by warring factions and has not had a functioning government.

By comparison, a handful of refugees have been resettled from Central America.

Venezuela tops that list, with 27 refugees from that country being resettled, while 26 Guatemalan refugees and 17 Nicaraguan refugees have arrived in Ohio, respectively.

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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter/X.
Photo “People from Congo” by Julien Harneis. CC BY-SA 2.0.