The US will take in up to 100,000 refugees fleeing fighting in Ukraine as the humanitarian crisis worsens from Russia’s attack on its neighbor, Biden administration officials said Thursday.
The United Nations estimates that more than 10 million people in Ukraine have been uprooted in the fighting. According to the UN, more than 3.6 million of them have fled the country, most with Poland as their destination.
The announcement came while President Biden was in Brussels for a series of meetings with NATO leaders and allies to discuss how to respond to Russia’s aggression.
Aside from the top-line number, administration offered few specific details. Officials have not yet decided how to structure refugee programs for Ukrainians, a senior administration official said when speaking to reporters Thursday morning. Officials are examining several ways to get people to the United States quickly, the official said.
The government has also not offered a timeline for the resettlements, although two people familiar with their discussions say the government is preparing for arrivals through 2023.
President Biden said Thursday at the NATO summit in Brussels that the US would take in up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees. The US will focus on family reunification and provide more than $1 billion in humanitarian aid to Ukraine. Photo: Evan Vucci/Associated Press
A senior official said the government is “specifically working to expand and develop new programs with a focus on accommodating Ukrainians who have family members in the United States.” The official added that the US is “committed to protecting the most vulnerable among the refugee populations who have already fled,” such as gay and transgender people, those with medical needs and dissidents.
Iryna Mazur, an immigration attorney in Philadelphia and honorary consul representing Ukraine in the city, said she was grateful to the White House but hoped details would be released soon because she knows many Ukrainians desperate for help. She also said that ultimately taking in 100,000 Ukrainian refugees would not be enough, although she added that many people would like to return to Ukraine if the situation in their country improves.
“I really hope this is just the first number because at this point we are more than three million Ukrainians scattered across Europe,” she said.
An unspecified number of the 100,000 could officially come to the US through the Refugee Admission Program, meaning they would be granted green cards and resettlement assistance. The US has a special refugee pathway known as the Lautenberg program to help Ukrainian religious minorities and others from former Soviet Union countries who would likely see a boost under the government’s plans.
The official said others would likely come on expedited visas, such as those intended for Americans to sponsor their family members abroad or through a temporary immigration program known as humanitarian probation.
The US similarly brought in more than 76,000 Afghan evacuees on humanitarian parole after Kabul fell to the Taliban. While the program offers a faster alternative to most other immigration programs that require more paperwork and security clearances, it also fails those in the US who do not have permanent legal status. That could work for Ukrainians who need temporary housing but want to return home when it becomes safe.
Ukrainian refugees wait to enter the United States from Tijuana, Mexico, on Wednesday.
Photo: Cesar Rodriguez/Bloomberg News
Hundreds or more Ukrainians with family or other ties to the US have also flown to Mexico in recent weeks to ask for protection at US border crossings. Border officials grant Ukrainians one year of humanitarian probation. Russian or Belarusian migrants who ask for similar protection at the US southern border are denied them.
The announcement came with an additional $1 billion in support for European nations and non-governmental groups caring for Ukrainian refugees in Europe displaced by the conflict, the White House said.
The European Union has taken in some 3.5 million Ukrainian refugees since the war began, with the bloc allowing people fleeing the war to enter without visas and with the right to two years of work.
The bloc has also introduced core services for the arriving people, providing them with food, shelter and education. Ireland, which is outside the bloc’s visa-free travel zone, waives visas for Ukrainians. Britain, which is no longer in the EU, is now letting Ukrainians come if they have a sponsor.
The government in Poland, where 2.2 million people have arrived, has asked for international help, particularly from the US and the UK. Ukrainians have generally settled in Central European countries such as Poland and Slovakia. Both nations speak a language similar to Ukrainian, share cultural ties and centuries-old histories, and their labor markets are tight.
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Notes on the news
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Earlier this month, during an hour-long meeting in Warsaw, Polish President Andrzej Duda urged Vice President Kamala Harris to expedite US visas for Ukrainians in Poland hoping to join family members in the US. Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski urged Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to do the same thing, during a separate meeting in the Polish capital.
“This is a test for us: Putin wanted to weaken us, divide us, this is his tactic to destabilize countries with refugees,” Mr Trzaskowski said in an interview. “We all know … this won’t just be for a week or two.”
– Tarini Parti and Drew Hinshaw contributed to this article.
write to Catherine Lucey at [email protected], Laurence Norman at [email protected], and Michelle Hackman at [email protected]
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