Biden’s New Ukraine Plan Could Be A Good Solution For Others Also

President Biden’s recent announcement of his Uniting for Ukraine plan to help some of the displaced persons uprooted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, along with his earlier commitment to take 100,000 Ukrainians to the U.S., should be a welcome development. Within 60 days of Russia’s invasion, 5 million Ukrainians fled the war. What is more, women and children made up 90 percent of those fleeing since the men stayed behind to fight.

Until Biden’s announcement, only about 15,000 Ukrainians who fled the war had entered the U.S. Most came through the arduous and sometimes even dangerous route of traveling to Mexico and then crossing at the U.S. border asking for humanitarian parole. In the meantime, Ukraine’s neighbouring countries have compassionately hosted the vast majority of the remaining displaced Ukrainians. For example, today, almost 2.7 million Ukrainians are in Poland. Undoubtedly, the war is creating a staggering humanitarian crisis in Europe the likes of which has not been since the end of World War II. It is a dynamic crisis that the United States and others will have to address in the days ahead. At least now there is a little more U.S. help being offered.

Why Ukrainian Refugees Have Been The Focus Of Attention

There are several reasons why Ukrainian displaced persons have been featured so prominently over the last few weeks.

Firstly, as news reports have made very clear and President Biden himself has declared, Russia is committing genocide in Ukraine. Those who escaped from towns and cities like Bucha and Mariupol reported how Russian soldiers slaughtered their neighbours whose bodies were left to rot in the streets. Thousands of civilians have been killed.

When the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, Ukraine emerged as the world’s third-largest nuclear power. It had a nuclear arsenal of 5000 strategic and tactical nuclear weapons. In 1994, Ukraine surrendered its entire nuclear arsenal to Russia when it signed the Budapest Accords on the basis that Russia, the U.S., and the U.K. would honour and guarantee the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. The infamy of Russia’s invasion is that it is violating the accord by waging war on Ukraine, thus causing the massive exodus of its people.

The enormity of the disruption in Ukrainian lives is that while Russian missiles rain down on cities throughout Ukraine, apart from the 5 million who have fled, an additional 7 million people have been displaced internally. The internal displacement of so many people, especially those who have left the country, has to be a source of concern for all Western countries since the burden is not being shared equally.

Finally, what is alarming and disturbing is the speed with which so many people have been uprooted and have had to flee their homes. The growing upheaval is less than two months old and it consists almost entirely of women, children, the elderly, and the disabled. More importantly, there is the fear that the number of displaced persons could increase quickly if any NATO countries were drawn into the war.

Biden’s New Program To The Rescue

In his introduction of this program Biden said, “This program will be fast. It will be streamlined.” The plan calls for opening a new portal for direct online applications by displaced Ukrainians. Applicants who: 1) have a sponsor in the United States, 2) have complete vaccinations and other public health requirements, 3) can access an online portal to file forms, and 4) can pass rigorous biometric and biographic screening and vetting security checks 5) have a Ukrainian passport and other identity documents including parental permissions for children to travel to the United States will be considered for humanitarian parole for a period of up to two years on a case-by-case basis. Once paroled through this process, Ukrainians will be eligible for work authorization. In regard to sponsors, U.S. citizens and certain other individuals, including representatives of non-government organizations, will be required to declare their financial support and pass security background checks to qualify, so as to protect the displaced persons from any exploitation or abuse.

It’s Not Perfect But It’s A Start

Unlike refugees who are offered resettlement aid, job training, English classes, and a path to U.S. citizenship, parolees under this program and those in the U.S. eligible for the new Temporary Protective Status (TPS) program for Ukraine that went into effect recently, will not receive any of those benefits or protections. Truth be told, the program is a two-year dead end with no status, no path to citizenship, and no benefits. So the initiative is not exactly perfect.

A key concern is that unlike displaced Ukrainians in the EU and Canada that are being granted work permits on entry under their programs, U.S. applicants will be senselessly delayed in getting authorization to work. The program requires them to apply inside the USA in a process that often takes many months if not over a year. This places an undue burden on sponsors to be totally responsible for food, clothing, and shelter of the parolees, who will likely be a mother with children, for up to 2 years. Based on the limitations of what this program offers, a work permit upon arrival seems the least that should be provided.

This shortcoming could easily be remedied by the government granting work authority “incident to entry or status“ to such parolees and TPS applicants similar to the work status granted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to spouses of H, E, and L visa holders. Alternatively, the government could allow concurrent processing of I-765 applications for employment authorizations at the same time that the applications for humanitarian parole are considered so that they can be approved together.

The Kernel Of A Good Idea

No immigration program is perfect. Despite the work permit shortcoming, this program has the kernel of a good idea that could catapult the United States into a leading position in legal immigration programming in the free world. The breakthrough is to broaden U.S. immigration not only to deal with refugees that fall within the narrow legal definition but also to help displaced persons who face dire and life-threatening circumstances anywhere. The key innovation is to base eligibility to legally immigrate to the U.S. on accessing sponsorships from U.S. family members or from other volunteers in the United States. Such a shift in paradigms, about to be employed now with displaced Ukrainians, could also be used to help displaced persons from Afghanistan, Iraq, Africa, the Caribbean, Central American nations, and elsewhere. While the U.S. will never be able to help every displaced person abroad, adopting this new approach could be the beginning of a fairer and more equitable program helping those who seek legal entry to the U.S. as displaced persons while building a stronger, better America.

Opening The Door For Others

What is happening for displaced Ukrainians today, as outlined here could very well open the door for other displaced persons awaiting an opening in the U.S. America has always benefited from the immigration of a wide variety of people from various backgrounds and races since through their support of each other, they help make America a better place for all. The key is to understand that any immigrant community in America can get what they need if they help enough other communities get what they need.