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Lawmakers pressure Biden to take in more Ukraine war refugees

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More than 3 million people have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries since Russia’s February 24 invasion, according to United Nations figures, but the United States has only admitted hundreds of Ukrainian refugees so far, prompting some critics to question the country’s policy. American government.

A group of more than three dozen Democratic lawmakers urged President Joe Biden, in a March 11 letter, to increase refugee admissions and allow Ukrainians with family members to enter the United States more quickly through a temporary mechanism known as “humanitarian freedom”.

Representative Raul Ruiz, a physician and chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus who wrote the letter, traveled to the Poland-Ukraine border earlier this month as part of a delegation of Democrats and Republicans.

“The crisis could overwhelm the countries currently hosting many of the Ukrainian refugees, and the United States must lead the effort to help these countries help the vulnerable escape war,” he wrote in the letter.

Representative Victoria Spartz, an Indiana Republican and Ukrainian immigrant, was on the delegation and told Fox News that the humanitarian response cannot be “a problem only for neighboring Poland.”

The urgency of the crisis was underscored by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s wife, Olena Zelenska, who told ABC News she was urging American women to support Ukrainian women and children seeking refuge.

A coalition of more than two dozen Jewish-American organizations also pressed Biden last week to increase admissions of Ukrainian refugees, saying “our community knows all too well what happens when the United States closes its doors to refugees.”

Biden’s answer

Biden and other officials have said the United States is ready to accept refugees if necessary, but the administration has repeatedly signaled that Europe should be the top destination for Ukrainians.

“We will welcome Ukrainian refugees with open arms if indeed they come here,” Biden said March 11 during a meeting of fellow Democrats in Philadelphia.

Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki made similar comments. Psaki said on March 10 that the government believes the “great majority” of refugees will want to stay in neighboring countries, where many have family, friends and former employers.

The State Department said it would work with the United Nations to bring Ukrainians into the country should they fail to get protection in Europe and “keeping in mind that resettlement to the United States is not a quick process.”

Resettlement of refugees can take years, although the Biden administration accelerated the process for Afghans after the US military withdrawal from the country in August last year. Lessons from this experience can help expedite the resettlement of other refugees, three US officials told Reuters.

There is still no publicly available data for March, although the United States admitted just 514 Ukrainian refugees in January and February as Russia prepared for war, according to State Department data.

Biden set the overall refugee ceiling for this year at 125,000 after his Republican predecessor Donald Trump cut admissions to a record low of 15,000.

Biden has reserved 10,000 of the 125,000 seats for people from Europe and Central Asia, which covers Ukraine, but that allocation could be expanded if necessary.

Ukrainians at the US-Mexico border

Thousands of Ukrainians and Russians have been traveling to the US-Mexico border seeking asylum, a trend that could accelerate as the humanitarian crisis worsens, Reuters reported earlier this month.

During the first five months of this fiscal year, which began last October, US authorities at the southwest border encountered about 1,300 Ukrainians, mostly at ports of entry, compared with about 680 for the entire last fiscal year.

Most Ukrainians have been allowed into the United States to proceed with their immigration cases, unlike migrants from other countries who are often expelled to Mexico under a pandemic-era order known as Title 42.

However, reports have emerged that some Ukrainians who have reached the southwest border in recent days have been refused entry.

The US government is sending economic aid to European countries that receive refugees. Biden signed a spending bill into law on Tuesday that provides $13.6 billion to help Ukraine and European allies, including about $4 billion for people on the run.

The White House also announced earlier this month that it will grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to about 75,000 Ukrainians already in the United States.

The status will offer amnesty from deportations and work permits for 18 months and can be renewed at the end of that period, but will not apply to people who arrived after March 1.

EuropeImmigrantsJoe BidenKamala HarrisKievNATOrefugeesRussiasheetUkraineVladimir PutinVolodymyr ZelenskyWar in Ukraine

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