City sees influx of Congolese immigrants
CLEVELAND — The May Dugan Center in the Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood earlier this year began processing refugee families coming to the area, and a trend has already emerged. Cleveland, like much of the United States, is getting an influx of refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa.
In 2023, 46% of all refugees who came to Ohio were from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (a separate country than Republic of the Congo).
Over 1,300 arrived in the state from October 2022 through September 2023, more than any year in the last decade, according to data from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. This included 237 new Cleveland-area residents.
“There’s a lot of issues or problems going on in the Congo, like the political violations, the gender-based violence, and the tribalism,” said Odine Kahindo, a case worker with social services nonprofit May Dugan Center. “All of those reasons forced Congolese in different camps, some in Rwanda, some in Burundi and some in Uganda.”
These problems, which have gone on for three decades, have displaced nearly 7 million Congolese, creating refugees throughout Africa and in other countries.
Kahindo is a refugee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo herself. The oldest of seven, her family left the country for Uganda when she was 7. They lived at a refugee camp for 11 years. Then, one day in 2016, they were told they were going to America.
“Everybody wants to come to America,” says Kahindo. “We were very happy, but we didn’t know the date. Then, one morning, we heard that we leave tomorrow.”
But America was not the first stop. First, Kahindo and her family packed the little they had and were transported to Kampala, the capital of Uganda. There, medical records were updated and immunizations were administered. Meanwhile, the agency handling Kahindo’s family prepared a house in America for their arrival.
Kahindo and her family were sent to Atlanta. When they arrived, a case worker picked them up from the airport and brought them to the house, which had some basic kitchen wares and hygiene products for the family. The agency, in Kahindo’s case the Immigrant and Refugee Service Corps, pays rent on the home for 90 days, while everyone is expected to find work during that time. After 90 days, families are on their own.
Atlanta proved to be too expensive and overwhelming for the newcomers. The family after a year moved to Knoxville, Tennessee.
In the United States, more than 60,000 refugees arrived in the last year, according to the Refugee Processing Center. Congolese people are the top refugee group in many states, including Georgia and Tennessee.
Although Kahindo’s family bought a house in Knoxville,
they were unexpectedly lured in by Cleveland’s siren song.
“My dad loves to explore different places and we came to visit a friend in Cleveland,” Kahindo shared. “The same day we came to visit, he found a house to rent. He just loved it, based on how cheap houses are and how many locally owned companies can easily hire those who don’t speak English. So in May 2020, we moved to Cleveland.”
Since arriving during the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kahindo’s family has also helped family and friends move to Cleveland, said Kahindo, who speaks nine languages, including English.
Ohio saw more than 2,800 refugees from 35 countries in the last federal fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30. Of them, 30% made their way to Cleveland. More than 230 are Congolese, the city’s highest number for any refugee group in the last year.
The Congolese were also the leading group of refugees to Cleveland in 201718 and 2018-19, before people from Afghanistan took over the top spot the next two years, many of them during the Biden Administration’s Operation Allies Welcome program.
Cleveland is the second most likely place for refugees to settle in Ohio, behind Columbus. However, some refugees from countries like Iraq, Sudan and Syria will opt for Cleveland over Columbus.
Cleveland is behind both Columbus and Dayton for Congolese refugees.