Secondary Migration
Secondary migrants are those new arrivals to Kentucky that were originally resettled in another State but choose to move to another State after arrival. Refugees have the right to relocate at any time to any state upon arrival but services such as location of housing, assistance with rent, assistance with registration to public school and application for public benefits are only available through the initial refugee resettlement agency. Reasons for migration to another state are varied, many are looking for better job opportunities, affordable housing, or to join family or friends or an established ethnic community located in a particular city and/or state.
Since 2002 Kentucky has experienced a 250% increase in secondary migration, with most of the secondaries resettling in the Louisville Metro Area. Over the past five years 1060 have arrived secondary migrants with almost 75% arriving within the last three years. The rapid increase in secondary migration to Kentucky is due to a large influx of Somali Bantu that began migrating to the Louisville Metro area beginning in October 2004. From 2004-2007 approximately 400 Somali Bantu have moved to Kentucky, representing 52% of all secondaries arriving within the last three years. These are Somali Bantu that have registered with a resettlement agency; therefore more Bantu
may have migrated to Kentucky but are not reflected in data available from the Kentucky Office for Refugees. Other nationalities that have arrived as secondaries over the past five years include Cubans, Meskhetian Turks, Bosnians, Somali (not Bantu), Sudanese and Liberians. 89% of all secondaries arriving to Kentucky over the past five year have relocated to Louisville; the remaining secondaries are residing in Lexington or Bowling Green, KY.
Click here for original state and nationalities for Secondary Migrants in 2007
