During the first eleven months of FY 2018, from October 1, 2017 to August 31, 2018, 1,301 refugees were resettled in Ohio by the federal government, more than were resettled in any other state except Texas, which saw 1,467 refugees resettled.
A total of 19,889 refugees were resettled in all of the United States during this period, according to the State Department website, wrapsnet.
The number of refugees resettled in states that adjoin Ohio geographically were significantly less.
The federal government resettled 778 refugees in Pennsylvania, 774 in Kentucky, 610 in Michigan, 434 in Indiana, and just one in West Virginia during the first eleven months of FY 2018.
You can see the breakdown of the countries of origin of the refugees resettled in Ohio, as well as their destinations in the state, here:
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One highly unusual aspect of the pattern of refugee resettlement in Ohio during FY 2018 is that almost half of the resettled refugees–623–come from a single country–Bhutan.
Bhutan is a tiny country with a total population of about 700,000 located in the Himalayas between India and Tibet.
More than a quarter of the 2,220 refugees resettled in the United States so far in FY 2018 whose country of origin is Bhutan were resettled in Ohio.
The state with the second highest level of refugees whose country of origin is Bhutan was Pennsylvania, which has resettled 255 refugees from Bhutan so far in FY 2018, less than half of the the number from Bhutan resettled in Ohio.
As The Ohio Star reported earlier this week, Ohio has one of the largest populations of Bhutanese in the United States.
Since 2006, close to 10,000 Bhutanese have been resettled in Ohio.
In 2015, the Columbus Dispatch reported results of a study about the high rates of suicide among Bhutanese refugees. The study was initiated at the request of a federal contractor resettlement agency bringing Bhutanese refugees to Ohio. Overall, suicide among Bhutanese refugees outstrips the rate among the general U.S. population and is higher “than the global suicide rate of 16.9 percent.” . . .
Somali refugees are the next highest group of refugees resettled in Ohio, with 7,982 arrivals reported in the state since 2006. Demographic data for total U.S. Somalis arrivals since 2006, put 40 percent, or approximately 30,248, of arrivals in the 21 to 50 year old group. An almost equal number, or 26,691 Somali arrivals, were reported as under 14 years of age and 1,177 were reported to be aged 65 or older.
Of the 77,860 Somalis that arrived nationwide, 13,248 were reported to have no education.
Somalia was the country of origin of only eleven refugees resettled in Ohio during the first eleven months of FY 2018.
Question Governor Kasich: WHY are we taking in these refugees? What are they fleeing from? There is no war in Bhutan or in the Himalaya’s, so why are we taking Ohioan’s jobs and benefits and giving it to foreigners?