How Many Refugees are in Montana?

The spread of ISIS and a brutal regime in Syria have uprooted a large portion of the Middle East and sent an estimated 1,800 refugees per-day to Germany. Though Montana is roughly the same size as Germany, as of September 2015, there is only one refugee family in the state that could have any connection to the Syrian crisis or ISIS.

"There may be some refugees that traveled here and never sought services from the state, so I wouldn't be aware of them, but currently we have five families in Montana, four of which are receiving services at this time. four of the families are actually from Cuba, and we have one Iraqi family here," explained Montana Refugee Coordinator Kathe Quittenton.

According to Quittenton, Montana has a history of accepting refugees, but not many try to come.

"We don't really choose which refugees come to Montana, they choose where they want to go and then they are either accepted in the state or not and Montana has never turned away any refugee that has requested services. We may get one to two families a year. It is pretty typical for us to have five here."

Of the five refugee families currently in Montana, only two came in 2015 and both of those were single adults from Cuba. The Iraqi family came in 2013.