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David Zalubowski/AP
The Biden administration will grant momentary safety from deportation to tens of 1000’s of Ukrainians who’re already dwelling within the U.S.
The Division of Homeland Safety introduced Thursday that it has designated Ukraine for Short-term Protected Standing, or TPS. That may enable an estimated 30,000 Ukrainians who’re quickly dwelling or finding out within the U.S. to remain and work legally for 18 months.
“Russia’s premeditated and unprovoked assault on Ukraine has resulted in an ongoing struggle, mindless violence, and Ukrainians compelled to hunt refuge in different international locations,” stated Homeland Safety Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in a press release. “In these extraordinary instances, we are going to proceed to supply our help and safety to Ukrainian nationals in the US.”
The White Home had been below rising stress from immigrant advocates and lawmakers to not deport Ukranians again to a war-torn nation. Earlier this week, dozens of senators signed a letter urging the Biden administration to designate Ukraine for TPS — and asking the administration to not drive Ukranians to “return to a struggle zone.”
Senator Robert Menendez,D-N.J., the chair of the Senate International Relations Committee, praised the transfer.
“Making certain roughly 30,000 Ukrainians in the US can obtain the safety they deserve, and have the chance to work and stay in the US with out worry of returning to a rustic below siege, is completely the proper and ethical factor to do,” Menendez stated in a press release.
TPS will solely be granted to Ukrainians who had been already current within the U.S. on March 1, in response to DHS. Which means it won’t apply to greater than 1,000,000 Ukrainians who’ve left to hunt refugee in neighboring European international locations because the Russian invasion started.
TPS is meant to guard residents from international locations the place armed battle or pure disasters make it unsafe. It doesn’t present a pathway to everlasting residency.
However critics say this system has allowed a whole bunch of 1000’s of individuals to remain within the U.S. indefinitely whereas TPS is prolonged — and warned that this time can be no completely different.
Immigrant advocates hailed the transfer — whereas additionally calling on the U.S. to do extra for Ukrainian refugees.
“Defending Ukrainian households from deportation is the least we will do amid a Russian onslaught that has focused civilians and civilian infrastructure,” stated Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, the president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, in a press release.
The choice to grant TPS to Ukrainians is “an vital transfer that speaks to our historical past as a protected haven for these dealing with oppression,” stated Ali Noorani, the pinnacle of the Nationwide Immigration Discussion board, in a press release. However on the identical time, Noorani urged the administration to “prioritize rebuilding our refugee resettlement infrastructure and capability, to proceed our legacy as a welcoming beacon of democracy.”
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