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 Texas in January 2023.
January refugee statistics
Countries where refugees arrived from in January
Texas
#1. Democratic Republic of the Congo: 98
#2. Afghanistan: 25
#2. Burma: 25
#4. Colombia: 14
#5. Syria: 13
#6. Honduras: 8
#7. Guatemala: 5
#8. El Salvador: 3
#9. Senegal: 2
#10. Eritrea: 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 Texas has accepted the most refugees from since January 2023
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Katja Tsvetkova // Shutterstock
#1. Democratic Republic of the Congo
Refugees that arrived from Democratic Republic of the Congo since January 2023
Texas: 233
National: 2,555
Top states
#1. Kentucky: 277
#2. Texas: 233
#3. Ohio: 189
#4. Arizona: 141
#5. Michigan: 123
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Canva
#2. Afghanistan
Refugees that arrived from Afghanistan since January 2023
Texas: 139
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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Chantal de Bruijne // Shutterstock
#3. Burma
Refugees that arrived from Burma since January 2023
Texas: 113
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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Matyas Rehak // Shutterstock
#4. Colombia
Refugees that arrived from Colombia since January 2023
Texas: 36
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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Kellys Portillo/APHOTOGRAFIA //Getty Images
#5. El Salvador
Refugees that arrived from El Salvador since January 2023
Texas: 32
National: 269
Top states
#1. North Carolina: 35
#2. Texas: 32
#3. California: 25
#3. Florida: 25
#5. Maryland: 22
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Lauren Squire // Shutterstock
#6. Guatemala
Refugees that arrived from Guatemala since January 2023
Texas: 30
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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#7. Syria
Refugees that arrived from Syria since January 2023
Texas: 29
National: 877
Top states
#1. Michigan: 112
#2. California: 62
#2. Pennsylvania: 62
#4. North Carolina: 52
#5. Washington: 49
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#8. Honduras
Refugees that arrived from Honduras since January 2023
Texas: 23
National: 143
Top states
#1. Texas: 23
#2. Washington: 20
#3. Illinois: 14
#4. California: 10
#5. Maryland: 9
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Artush // Shutterstock
#9. Ethiopia
Refugees that arrived from Ethiopia since January 2023
Texas: 10
National: 101
Top states
#1. Minnesota: 44
#2. lowa: 12
#3. Texas: 10
#4. Washington: 7
#4. Georgia: 7
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LUIS ROBAYO/AFP via Getty Images
#10. Venezuela
Refugees that arrived from Venezuela since January 2023
Texas: 9
National: 154
Top states
#1. Florida: 52
#2. Illinois: 15
#3. Pennsylvania: 12
#4. Texas: 9
#5. Kentucky: 8
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Focus and Blur // Shutterstock
#10. Iraq
Refugees that arrived from Iraq since January 2023
Texas: 9
National: 127
Top states
#1. Michigan: 31
#2. North Carolina: 9
#2. Texas: 9
#2. Ohio: 9
#2. Massachusetts: 9
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Rostasedlacek // Shutterstock
#12. Burundi
Refugees that arrived from Burundi since January 2023
Texas: 6
National: 57
Top states
#1. Pennsylvania: 10
#2. Kentucky: 8
#3. New York: 6
#3. Idaho: 6
#3. Texas: 6
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Dave Primov // Shutterstock
#13. Eritrea
Refugees that arrived from Eritrea since January 2023
Texas: 5
National: 216
Top states
#1. New York: 23
#2. Tennessee: 22
#3. lowa: 15
#4. Washington: 14
#4. Ohio: 14
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#13. Vietnam
Refugees that arrived from Vietnam since January 2023
Texas: 5
National: 13
Top states
#1. Oregon: 8
#2. Texas: 5
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Milosz Maslanka // Shutterstock
#15. Nicaragua
Refugees that arrived from Nicaragua since January 2023
Texas: 4
National: 15
Top states
#1. lowa: 4
#1. Texas: 4
#3. New Jersey: 1
#3. New Mexico: 1
#3. Arizona: 1
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Matyas Rehak // Shutterstock
#15. Sudan
Refugees that arrived from Sudan since January 2023
Texas: 4
National: 212
Top states
#1. Idaho: 33
#2. California: 19
#2. New York: 19
#4. Kansas: 18
#5. Nebraska: 17
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#17. Iran
Refugees that arrived from Iran since January 2023
Texas: 3
National: 58
Top states
#1. California: 25
#2. Arizona: 6
#3. Illinois: 5
#4. New Jersey: 4
#5. Texas: 3
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W_NAMKET // Shutterstock
#17. Pakistan
Refugees that arrived from Pakistan since January 2023
Texas: 3
National: 71
Top states
#1. Pennsylvania: 25
#2. New York: 15
#3. Georgia: 10
#4. Indiana: 6
#5. California: 5
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JackKPhoto // Shutterstock
#19. Moldova
Refugees that arrived from Moldova since January 2023
Texas: 2
National: 106
Top states
#1. California: 33
#2. Massachusetts: 21
#3. Georgia: 18
#4. Washington: 10
#5. Minnesota: 6
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Salvador Aznar // Shutterstock
#19. Senegal
Refugees that arrived from Senegal since January 2023
Texas: 2
National: 31
Top states
#1. North Carolina: 6
#2. Massachusetts: 4
#2. Michigan: 4
#4. New York: 3
#4. South Carolina: 3
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#21. Bangladesh
Refugees that arrived from Bangladesh since January 2023
Texas: 1
National: 1
Top states
#1. Texas: 1
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Tremens Productions // Shutterstock
#21. Mali
Refugees that arrived from Mali since January 2023
Texas: 1
National: 19
Top states
#1. Not Available: 4
#1. North Carolina: 4
#3. Arizona: 2
#3. Louisiana: 2
#3. Michigan: 2
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Oscar Espinosa // Shutterstock
#21. Rwanda
Refugees that arrived from Rwanda since January 2023
Texas: 1
National: 17
Top states
#1. Ohio: 7
#2. North Carolina: 6
#3. Pennsylvania: 2
#4. lowa: 1
#4. Texas: 1
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Dave Primov // Shutterstock
#21. Somalia
Refugees that arrived from Somalia since January 2023
Texas: 1
National: 174
Top states
#1. Minnesota: 54
#2. Ohio: 19
#3. New York: 13
#4. Georgia: 12
#5. Pennsylvania: 10
