Stone Mountain, Georgia — a city with just over 6,000 residents and a poverty rate well above the national average — has resettled more Syrian refugees than Los Angeles and New York City combined.
Since October 1 (the start of the fiscal year), 72 Syrian refugees have been placed in Stone Mountain, State Department data shows. Los Angeles has resettled just 45 Syrian refugees, while NYC has only resettled nine.
Syrians aren’t the only refugees placed in Stone Mountain this year. Since October 1, 299 refugees have been resettled in the Georgia town. That’s roughly five percent of Stone Mountain’s July, 2015 population (6,109, according to U.S. Census data).
The largest group of refugees are from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which had 83 refugees placed in Stone Mountain.
Another 36 refugees came from Burma, 26 came from Somalia, 21 from the Central African Republic, 18 from Eritrea, 13 from Bhutan, eight from Ethiopia, seven from Afghanistan, six from the Ivory Coast, four from Iraq, two each from Pakistan and Iraq, and one refugee from Sudan.
According to U.S. Census data, the median income in Stone Mountain is $36,444, well below the national average of $53,482. Stone Mountain has a poverty rate of 22.5 percent, which is significantly higher than the national average of 13.5 percent. (RELATED: Nancy Pelosi’s Congressional District Has Taken In Zero Syrian Refugees)
The vast majority (75.2 percent) of the Stone Mountain population is African-American, while just 16.8 percent of the population is white. (RELATED: Leaked Soros Docs: African-Americans Worried Their Children Receiving Less Attention Than Syrian Refugees)
According to U.S. Census data, more than 30 percent of the Stone Mountain population under the age of 65 does not have health insurance — almost triple the national average of 10.5 percent.
As previously reported by The Daily Caller, the vast majority of Syrian refugees resettled in Virginia have been placed in low-income high-poverty cities, far away from the wealthy D.C. suburbs.
Update: the city manager released the following statement disputing that the refugees are within the city limits:
There has been no action presented to or taken by City Council in regards to any refugees in our community.
The refugees that have been reported are not represented within the city limits of the City of Stone Mountain. Of the approximately 6,000 person population residing within the city limits there has been no report of the resettlement of refugees. The number reported represents resettlement in those areas outside of the city limits that have Stone Mountain addresses (covering 4 zip codes). Those areas having Stone Mountain addresses accounts for over 117,000 people, with over 111,000 not residing within our town’s city limits.
The number reported may also represent those refugees that arrive as “free” cases (those not linked to a relative that already has a permanent address) that are given the address of the resettlement agency they are sponsored by. The most local refugee resettlement agency has a Stone Mountain address but is not located within the city limits of Stone Mountain. Unfortunately, and more often than we would like, the 1.7 square miles of City of Stone Mountain is equated with the larger area of land that encompasses Stone Mountain addresses when reports like the one referenced below are made and published.
The City of Stone Mountain is a warm and friendly community and we welcome all who chose to visit and reside here.
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