The Philadelphia immigration lawyer has gotten more than a hundred calls from local Ukrainian Americans desperate to get family members out of the war and into the United States. He’s received at least another hundred pleas from Russian families, frightened for loved ones who are protesting against the war in a homeland were the government tolerates little dissent.
“I can give them a place to live, feed them,” she said. “I would buy them a ticket. I would not need any money from the government. Just someone to let me do it.” The world already was experiencing a record refugee crisis, with 26.6 million people forced from their countries by war, persecution or natural disaster. And that figure is surpassed bymeaning they were driven from their homes to other parts of their homelands, she noted.
The administration granted Temporary Protected Status to Ukrainians already in the United States, which provides protection from deportation along with an 18-month work permit. Thirteen other countries have that designation, which can be repeatedly renewed. Those fleeing Ukraine are mostly women and children, as men between 18 and 60 are barred from leaving the country.
Refugees must apply for legal permanent residency, commonly known as a green card, a year after their arrival. They can seek citizenship five years after they gain permanent residence. “The real answer is a broad-based, overhauling of the immigration system,” Miller-Wilson said, and that includes big staffing increases at the U.S. embassies and agencies that conduct immigration interviews and vet those hoping to enter the United States.In the meantime, she said, the U.S.