By country
By Country
Each exodus has its own history. These pages tell it, and introduce the diplomats who came out of it.
Southeast Asia
Europe
Nazi Germany and Austria14 diplomat profilesCzechoslovakia3 diplomat profilesHungary1 diplomat profilePoland1 diplomat profileThe Soviet Union4 diplomat profilesLatvia and the Baltics1 diplomat profileUkraine2 diplomat profilesYugoslavia and the Balkans2 diplomat profiles
The Americas
Middle East and South Asia
Africa
Other refugee journeys
Refugees from many other countries have built lives in the United States, and their children and grandchildren now serve in public life. Their stories in diplomacy are still being documented.
- Burma (Myanmar). Karen, Chin, Kachin, and Rohingya refugees fled military rule and ethnic violence. The United States resettled tens of thousands from camps in Thailand and Malaysia, especially after 2005.
- Bhutan. Ethnic Nepali Bhutanese, the Lhotshampa, were expelled in the early 1990s and lived for nearly two decades in camps in eastern Nepal. The United States resettled the largest share of them, beginning in 2008.
- Ethiopia and Eritrea. Revolution, famine, and war in the 1970s and 1980s drove many Ethiopians and Eritreans to Sudan and beyond.
- Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Genocide and war in the Great Lakes region produced generations of refugees, many of whom spent years in camps in Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya.
- Syria. The civil war that began in 2011 created the largest refugee crisis of its time, with millions fleeing to Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, and Europe.
- Bosnia and Herzegovina. The war of 1992 to 1995 brought well over one hundred thousand Bosnian refugees to the United States.
- Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala. Civil wars in Central America in the 1980s sent many families north.
Figures are approximate and drawn from general historical sources.