Alejandro Mayorkas Expands Migration from War-Torn Ukraine

NEIL MUNRO

21 Aug 2023142

President Joe Biden is expanding Ukrainian migration into the United States, just as Ukraine’s government is drafting more men to operate all the U.S. weaponry that Biden is sending into the embattled country.

The expansion was announced on August 18 when top officials expanded the offer of “Temporary Protected Status” (TPS) to cover an additional 167,000 recent Ukrainian migrants in the United States:

“Russia’s ongoing military invasion of Ukraine and the resulting humanitarian crisis requires that the United States continue to offer safety and protection to Ukrainians who may not be able to return to their country,” said [Department of Homeland Security] Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas. “We will continue to offer our support to Ukrainian nationals through this temporary form of humanitarian relief.”

The 167,000 expansion follows a prior award of TPS to 26,000 Ukrainians. The roughly 190,000 Ukrainian migrants traveled to the United States via routes through Germany, Hungary, Poland, Ireland, Mexico, and many other peaceful states.

They were allowed to enter the United States due to the greatly expanded “humanitarian parole” loophole for emergency cases in the nation’s border laws. This loophole has been formalized into the “Uniting for Ukraine” program that allows Ukranians through the borders, but the TPS extension gives the arrivals more rights, including the right to work.

By March 2023, more than 270,000 Ukrainian migrants had arrived by various routes. Some of the migrants were military-age men. For example, in May 2022, one pro-migration group reported on the early arrivals:

The proportion of males was surprising high – much higher than has been reported among Ukrainian refugees heading to European countries since Ukraine banned all male citizens ages 18 to 60 from leaving the country shortly after the Russian invasion began.

Progressive advocates are looking for ways to bring more Ukrainians and to let them stay longer, according to a February 2023 report in USAToday.

Categories: Articole de interes general