This week marks one year since Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, which sparked the European continent’s largest movement of refugees since World War II. More than five million have been displaced within their own country, while eight million have fled elsewhere, according to data from the United Nations.
Many have come to the U.S. through a humanitarian parole program implemented to resounding success by the Biden administration. More than 113,000 have arrived through the Uniting for Ukraine program, while nearly 150,000 have been approved, CNN said. The program allows them to live and work in the U.S., usually for about two years. But as the report notes, many refugees hopeful that they’d be able to return back home sooner than that “are coming to grips with the fact that they’re probably not going back and having to wrestle with their legal status in the US.”
RELATED STORY: U.S. has admitted 100,000 Ukrainians in just five months, including 22,000 at southern border
Anna Yezerova told CNN that she and her younger daughter arrived here with some summer clothes. “Nearly one year later, Yezerova remains in the US and is setting down roots in New Jersey, trying to chart out a life she never envisioned for herself.” Yezerova currently works for Church World Service, a leading refugee resettlement agency, helping other vulnerable Ukrainians. But Russia’s refusal to end its bloodshed means she’s not any closer to being able to return than she was a year ago, and has left her unable to plan her future. The Associated Press reports fighting “is expected to intensify with spring offensives.”
“It’s a big issue right now,” Yezerova told CNN. “It’s very complicated to live here when you don’t know how many years you can live here. Can you go study? Can you buy something like a car?”
Refugees who arrived through the humanitarian parole process have the ability to ask for a renewal. But for those who seek the kind of stability that only permanent relief can provide, it is much more complicated. While the Biden administration has announced measures intended to reduce the immigration backlog, asylum cases continue to pile up. Congress could also act today, and pass legislation addressing Ukrainians. But Senate Republicans late last year derailed legislation for Afghan refugees similarly in limbo. Despite bipartisan support for including the Afghan Adjustment Act in December’s government funding bill, that move was torpedoed by Chuck Grassley.
The Jim Crow filibuster requiring support from at least ten Senate Republicans already created a bleak outlook for permanent relief. That was even before factoring in the new Republican House and its refusal to govern. Rather than maintaining our commitment to our Ukrainian allies, Speaker-For-Now Kevin McCarthy has threatened aid.
“A lot of our clients fear what the future will bring,” refugee settlement agency Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service president Krish O’Mara Vignarajah told CNN. “It’s a situation of all the hallmarks of a protracted conflict and one that makes returning safely all but impossible. It’s creating an immense amount of anxiety and uncertainty. And it makes it virtually impossible to set down roots with any sort of confidence.”
Their ongoing limbo comes as President Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Ukraine and met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In a tweet, Zelenskyy said he was “thankful to the U.S. for standing with Ukraine and for our strong partnership” and remained “determined to work together to ensure Ukraine’s victory.”
In his statement, President Biden said traveled to Ukraine to “reaffirm our unwavering and unflagging commitment to Ukraine’s democracy, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. When Putin launched his invasion nearly one year ago, he thought Ukraine was weak, and the West was divided. He thought he could outlast us. But he was dead wrong.”
Americans have also been strongly supportive of Ukrainian refugee efforts, with roughly 213,000 applying to be a part of Uniting for Ukraine, CNN said. Polling also shows strong support for a recent administration initiative allowing everyday Americans to financially sponsor refugees. Welcome.US said that YouGov polling reveals that 60% of respondents are supportive of the historic Welcome Corps initiative. The coalition said that nearly 20,000 Americans signed up for more information on the program in the first week that followed the administration’s announcement.
Click here to donate to help those escaping Putin's illegal invasion of Ukraine.
RELATED STORIES:
Advocates say Ukrainian refugees need a pathway to resettlement in the U.S.
Ukrainian family, initially blocked by U.S. border officials, to be allowed entry
Biden administration expands Ukrainian TPS eligibility to thousands more people
