The United States has made a statement announcing that the country would receive as many as 100,000 Ukrainian refugees, following the invasion of Russia on Ukraine.
This announcement, which was made through the website of the White House, stated that the United States intends to focus on admitting Ukrainians who have family members and relations in the country through the U.S refugee Admissions Programme and other legal pathways.
The statement read “While we expect many Ukrainians will choose to remain in Europe close to family and their homes in Ukraine, today, the United States is announcing plans to welcome up to 100,000 Ukrainians and others fleeing Russia’s aggression through the full range of legal pathways, including the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.
“In particular, we are working to expand and develop new programs with a focus on welcoming Ukrainians who have family members in the United States. The United States and the European Union are also coordinating closely to ensure that these efforts, and other forms of humanitarian admission or transfers, are complementary and provide much-needed support to Ukraine’s neighbours.”
The United States has also helped countries surrounding Ukraine in Europe to enable them to receive millions of refugees as there are about three million displaced refugees from Ukraine.
The statement further reads. “Since February 24, the United States has already provided more than $123 million to complement the work of neighbouring countries and the European Union to receive and host millions of refugees, including $48 million in Poland, $30 million in Moldova, $10 million in Romania, $9 million in Hungary, and $4 million in the Slovak Republic.
“U.S.-funded humanitarian organizations are working in partnership with host governments to launch cash programs that provide refugees with temporary assistance for food, accommodations, and medical care until they can work or receive social support.”
What you should know
- Additionally, the U.S. has allocated $5.5 million to aid the safe and orderly return of up to 20,000 third-country nationals to their home from Ukraine.
- The United States continues to show its support for Ukraine since the war began. Just recently the U.S donated to the Ukrainian Government at the plea of the president of Ukraine.
- This would not be the first time the United States has stepped in to accommodate refugees from countries that are facing crisis. In 1999, the Clinton administration evacuated nearly 20,000 refugees from Kosovo to the United States under the humanitarian parole program.
- Humanitarian parole has been made available to provide safe passage for large numbers of people out of conflict zones where the United States had military involvement, such as Vietnam, Cuba and children fleeing violence in Central America and most recently to more than 70,000 Afghans who were airlifted to the U.S.
