Ohio has received 855 refugees from Afghanistan so far. More could be coming in the future.
Gov. Mike DeWine鈥檚 spokesman Dan Tierney said refugees themselves might want to go with family members that live in certain states. But Ohio doesn鈥檛 get to pick and choose refugees to come here.
鈥淭his is largely done at the federal level and Ohio鈥檚 role in this is to be a pass-through for funding and to provide information as it is available,鈥� Tierney said.
The refugees can also choose a city from a list approved by the federal government and so far, Cleveland is the only Ohio city on that list but if refugees have family in other cities, they can be sent there. So, some are also going to Cincinnati, Akron, and Toledo.
The federal government can just assign refugees to come to Ohio, but Tierney said all of those decisions are largely left up to the feds.
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