WASHINGTON: Greater than 3 million individuals have fled Ukraine to neighboring international locations since Russia invaded on Feb. 24, in keeping with United Nations knowledge, however the USA has solely admitted a number of hundred Ukrainian refugees to this point, leaving some critics questioning US authorities coverage.
WHY HASN’T THE U.S. TAKEN IN MORE UKRAINIAN REFUGEES?
US. President Joe Biden and his prime officers have mentioned the USA stands prepared to simply accept refugees if wanted, however the administration has repeatedly signaled that Europe ought to be the first vacation spot for Ukrainians.
“We will welcome Ukrainian refugees with open arms if, actually, they arrive all the way in which right here,” Biden mentioned on March 11 throughout a gathering of fellow Democrats in Philadelphia.
Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and White Home Press Secretary Jen Psaki have made comparable feedback. Psaki mentioned on March 10 that the administration believes the “overwhelming majority” of refugees will need to stay in neighboring international locations the place many have household, associates and former employers.
The US state division has mentioned that it’s going to work with the United Nations to carry refugees to the USA within the occasion Ukrainian refugees lack safety in Europe, “making an allowance for that resettlement to the USA just isn’t a fast course of.”
Refugee resettlement can take years, although the Biden administration sped up the method for Afghans following the US navy withdrawal from Afghanistan final August. Classes from that have might assist expedite the resettlement of different refugees, three U.S. officers advised Reuters.
WHO IS CALLING FOR MORE REFUGEE ADMISSIONS?
A bunch of greater than three dozen Democratic lawmakers urged Biden in a March 11 letter to extend refugee admissions and permit Ukrainians with members of the family in the USA to enter sooner by way of a brief mechanism often known as “humanitarian parole.”
Consultant Raul Ruiz, a doctor educated in emergency drugs and chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which wrote the letter, traveled to the Poland-Ukraine border earlier this month as a part of a delegation of Democrats and Republicans.
“The disaster might overwhelm the international locations at the moment internet hosting lots of the Ukrainian refugees, and the USA should lead within the effort to help these international locations in serving to the weak escape battle,” he wrote within the letter to Biden.
Consultant Victoria Spartz, a Republican from Indiana and Ukrainian immigrant, was within the delegation and advised Fox Information that the humanitarian response can’t be neighbor Poland’s “downside alone.”
The urgency of the disaster was underscored by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s spouse Olena Zelenska, who advised ABC Information she was calling on American girls to help Ukrainian girls and youngsters searching for refuge.
A coalition of greater than two dozen Jewish-American organizations additionally pressed Biden final week to extend admissions of Ukrainian refugees, saying that “our group is aware of painfully too effectively what occurs when America shuts its doorways to refugees.”
COULD THE US ACCEPT MORE UKRAINIAN REFUGEES?
No knowledge is publicly obtainable but for March though the USA admitted solely 514 Ukrainian refugees in January and February throughout Russia’s build-up to the battle, in keeping with U.S. State Division knowledge.
Biden set the general refugee ceiling for this yr at 125,000 after his predecessor Donald Trump, a Republican, slashed admissions to a record-low 15,000, which gutted this system and led to processing delays already worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Biden has put aside 10,000 of the 125,000 refugee slots for individuals from Europe and Central Asia, which encompasses Ukraine, however that allotment may be expanded if wanted, and is expediting sure instances.
WHAT HAPPENS TO UKRAINIANS WHO TRY TO ENTER THE UNITED STATES FROM MEXICO?
Hundreds of Ukrainians and Russians have been touring to the US-Mexico border to hunt asylum, a pattern that would speed up because the humanitarian disaster worsens, Reuters reported earlier this month.
Through the first 5 months of this fiscal yr, which started final October, US authorities on the southwest border encountered about 1,300 Ukrainians, largely at ports of entry, in comparison with about 680 for all the final fiscal yr.
Most Ukrainians have been allowed into the USA to pursue their immigration instances, not like migrants from different international locations who are sometimes expelled to Mexico or different international locations beneath a pandemic-era order often known as Title 42.
Anecdotal stories have surfaced, nevertheless, of a handful of Ukrainians arriving on the southwest border in latest days and being refused entry.
IF THE U.S. ISN’T ACCEPTING MANY UKRAINIAN REFUGEES, WHAT IS IT DOING?
The US authorities is devoting important financial assist to help the European international locations receiving refugees.
Biden signed into regulation a spending invoice on Tuesday that gives $13.6 billion to assist Ukraine and European allies, together with about $4 billion to help individuals fleeing.
The U.S. authorities additionally introduced earlier this month that it’s going to grant Short-term Protected Standing (TPS) to an estimated 75,000 Ukrainians already in the USA.
The standing will provide them deportation aid and work permits for 18 months and may be renewed on the finish of that interval, however won’t apply to individuals who arrived after March 1.
WHY HASN’T THE U.S. TAKEN IN MORE UKRAINIAN REFUGEES?
US. President Joe Biden and his prime officers have mentioned the USA stands prepared to simply accept refugees if wanted, however the administration has repeatedly signaled that Europe ought to be the first vacation spot for Ukrainians.
“We will welcome Ukrainian refugees with open arms if, actually, they arrive all the way in which right here,” Biden mentioned on March 11 throughout a gathering of fellow Democrats in Philadelphia.
Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and White Home Press Secretary Jen Psaki have made comparable feedback. Psaki mentioned on March 10 that the administration believes the “overwhelming majority” of refugees will need to stay in neighboring international locations the place many have household, associates and former employers.
The US state division has mentioned that it’s going to work with the United Nations to carry refugees to the USA within the occasion Ukrainian refugees lack safety in Europe, “making an allowance for that resettlement to the USA just isn’t a fast course of.”
Refugee resettlement can take years, although the Biden administration sped up the method for Afghans following the US navy withdrawal from Afghanistan final August. Classes from that have might assist expedite the resettlement of different refugees, three U.S. officers advised Reuters.
WHO IS CALLING FOR MORE REFUGEE ADMISSIONS?
A bunch of greater than three dozen Democratic lawmakers urged Biden in a March 11 letter to extend refugee admissions and permit Ukrainians with members of the family in the USA to enter sooner by way of a brief mechanism often known as “humanitarian parole.”
Consultant Raul Ruiz, a doctor educated in emergency drugs and chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which wrote the letter, traveled to the Poland-Ukraine border earlier this month as a part of a delegation of Democrats and Republicans.
“The disaster might overwhelm the international locations at the moment internet hosting lots of the Ukrainian refugees, and the USA should lead within the effort to help these international locations in serving to the weak escape battle,” he wrote within the letter to Biden.
Consultant Victoria Spartz, a Republican from Indiana and Ukrainian immigrant, was within the delegation and advised Fox Information that the humanitarian response can’t be neighbor Poland’s “downside alone.”
The urgency of the disaster was underscored by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s spouse Olena Zelenska, who advised ABC Information she was calling on American girls to help Ukrainian girls and youngsters searching for refuge.
A coalition of greater than two dozen Jewish-American organizations additionally pressed Biden final week to extend admissions of Ukrainian refugees, saying that “our group is aware of painfully too effectively what occurs when America shuts its doorways to refugees.”
COULD THE US ACCEPT MORE UKRAINIAN REFUGEES?
No knowledge is publicly obtainable but for March though the USA admitted solely 514 Ukrainian refugees in January and February throughout Russia’s build-up to the battle, in keeping with U.S. State Division knowledge.
Biden set the general refugee ceiling for this yr at 125,000 after his predecessor Donald Trump, a Republican, slashed admissions to a record-low 15,000, which gutted this system and led to processing delays already worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Biden has put aside 10,000 of the 125,000 refugee slots for individuals from Europe and Central Asia, which encompasses Ukraine, however that allotment may be expanded if wanted, and is expediting sure instances.
WHAT HAPPENS TO UKRAINIANS WHO TRY TO ENTER THE UNITED STATES FROM MEXICO?
Hundreds of Ukrainians and Russians have been touring to the US-Mexico border to hunt asylum, a pattern that would speed up because the humanitarian disaster worsens, Reuters reported earlier this month.
Through the first 5 months of this fiscal yr, which started final October, US authorities on the southwest border encountered about 1,300 Ukrainians, largely at ports of entry, in comparison with about 680 for all the final fiscal yr.
Most Ukrainians have been allowed into the USA to pursue their immigration instances, not like migrants from different international locations who are sometimes expelled to Mexico or different international locations beneath a pandemic-era order often known as Title 42.
Anecdotal stories have surfaced, nevertheless, of a handful of Ukrainians arriving on the southwest border in latest days and being refused entry.
IF THE U.S. ISN’T ACCEPTING MANY UKRAINIAN REFUGEES, WHAT IS IT DOING?
The US authorities is devoting important financial assist to help the European international locations receiving refugees.
Biden signed into regulation a spending invoice on Tuesday that gives $13.6 billion to assist Ukraine and European allies, together with about $4 billion to help individuals fleeing.
The U.S. authorities additionally introduced earlier this month that it’s going to grant Short-term Protected Standing (TPS) to an estimated 75,000 Ukrainians already in the USA.
The standing will provide them deportation aid and work permits for 18 months and may be renewed on the finish of that interval, however won’t apply to individuals who arrived after March 1.
