“Citizens of Ukraine who are currently in the United States should not be forced to return to Ukraine while the country is at war with Russia,” Ohio Republican Senator Rob Portman said. said on Twitter. “Giving them temporary protected status is the right thing to do.”
Updated
March 3, 2022 6:32 pm ET
Senator Bob Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, praised the administration for providing this assistance to Ukrainians. But he also called on the White House to designate citizens of Cameroon, Ethiopia and Afghanistan as eligible for the same benefit.
“Temporary Protected Status was created by Congress for exactly this purpose—to protect people whose home countries have experienced armed conflict, environmental disaster, or emergency conditions that prevent people from safely returning home,” Mr. Menendez said in a statement. The program went into effect in 1990.
The administration has also suspended the deportation of commercial flights to the region, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak in public. According to the official, on March 1, three Ukrainians were planned to be sent to Kyiv on a commercial flight. These three individuals are now eligible to apply for provisional status.
Russian-Ukrainian war: what you need to know
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Falling Ukrainian city. Russian troops took control of Kherson, the first city captured during the war. The capture of Kherson is significant because it allows the Russians to control most of the southern coast of Ukraine and move west towards Odessa.
More than 1,000 Ukrainians were caught crossing the US southwestern border between October and January, according to government figures, a significant increase from previous years.
Currently, more than 400,000 people live in the United States with temporary protection status, including immigrants from Burma, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen.
Advocates of restricting immigration are critical of the program, which they say will eventually allow people who have received status to stay permanently in the United States.