According to a summary of refugee arrivals for the first portion of fiscal year 2024, the Democratic Republic of Congo tops the list of refugees resettled in Tennessee in terms of national origin.
The report says that the total number of Congolese refugees resettled in the Volunteer State from October 1 through February 29 is 264.
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.
Meanwhile, refugees from other unstable nations now call Tennessee home.
The second highest number of refugees by country of origin comes from Venezuela, at 110. Third is Burma at 68 and fourth is Afghanistan at 62. Other notable countries of origin include Syria, from which 75 people have arrived, Sudan, Colombia and Guatemala, from which more than 30 refugees have arrived, and Guatemala, from which 29 refugees have arrived.
Notably, Sudan is the poorest country on earth.
The Migration Policy Institute says that President Joe Biden’s administration has made refugee resettlement a priority compared to former President Donald Trump’s administration.
“U.S. refugee resettlement has fluctuated significantly over the past decade, reflecting the priority of presidential administrations,” the institute says. “While the Trump administration reduced the annual resettlement cap to a historical low of 15,000 by its last year in office (FY 2021), President Joe Biden reversed course and raised the cap to 62,500 for the remainder of FY 2021 and then to 125,000 for FY 2022 and FY 2023. Despite these increases, the pace of actual resettlement has lagged, although it has steadily ticked up as the pandemic has waned and processing resumed.”
“Approximately 11,400 refugees were resettled in FY 2021, 25,500 in FY 2022, and 31,800 in the first eight months of FY 2023. Over the 43 years of the modern resettlement program, an average of approximately 73,300 refugees have been resettled annually.”
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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 “Congo Refugee” by USA for UNHCR.
