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Ukrainian refugees who attempt to enter US through southern border will be denied in new plan: report

April 21, 2022 | | Print Article

President Joe Biden announced a new program to address Ukrainians seeking asylum in the United States — one aimed at streamlining the process and preventing those fleeing the war-torn nation from entering the U.S. via the southern border with Mexico.

“This program will be fast, it will be streamlined, and it will ensure the United States honors its commitment to go through the people of Ukraine and need not go through our southern border,” Biden said Thursday from the White House.

 

The program, called “Unite for Ukraine,” comes in response to President Biden’s pledge to welcome an additional 100,000 Ukrainians into the States, according to the Daily Mail. Already, five million displaced Ukrainians have flooded into neighboring countries in Europe and elsewhere.

“We have seen a terrible human cost of Putin’s ambition for conquest and control — approximately two-thirds — two-thirds — of all Ukrainian children have been displaced in their homes,” Biden stated.

While Biden promised last month in Brussels, home of NATO headquarters, to receive Ukrainians “with open arms,” a lack of direction from the White House has drastically slowed the administration’s efforts to do that.

As previously reported in American Wire News, as of the middle of March, only seven Ukrainians had been accepted into the U.S. since the start of Russia’s attack on the nation. At the time, White House press secretary Jen Psaki explained that, first, asylum seekers needed to file the paperwork for the appropriate programs.

“We are still implementing our immigration laws at the border,” Psaki said. “That means that Title 42 is in place, and for individuals who come through abnormal migration, we approach that through the same laws and implementation.”

“When the president says he would welcome refugees, of course he would, but they have to apply through the refugee programs,” Psaki added.

 

Now, it seems, the President’s program is, at last, in place, and it will go into effect on April 25, effectively ending the influx of Ukrainians who were previously allowed across the border with Mexico and into the United States on “humanitarian parole.”

“As of April 25, Ukrainians who do seek to enter the United States at a land border without a visa or without completing the ‘Uniting for Ukraine’ process may be refused entry under our existing laws,” a DHS official told reporters prior to Biden’s remarks.

“We are continuing to enforce public health authority under Title 42 at the land border until May 23, and that will be the case for all nationalities at the border,” the official said.

As part of the Unite for Ukraine program, applicants will have to show proof of vaccination for COVID-19, a requirement that may be difficult to fulfill from Mexico, according to an administration official.

“This program is clearly oriented on Ukrainians who have been displaced in Europe, it may be available for Ukrainians in Mexico, but access to some of the required vaccinations in Mexico will likely be a little more difficult in Mexico,” the official said, adding that there will be no advantage for Ukrainians traveling to Mexico for an expedited entry. “We will not be helping to facilitate those vaccinations in Mexico.”

An online portal for asylum seekers applying to the Unite for Ukraine program will open on the 25th of April. To be considered, applicants must have resided in Ukraine as of February, have a U.S. sponsor, and, of course, submit to the jab.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will vet the applicants “to ensure the sponsors are not going to engage in exploitation or other forms of abuse, that they are who they say they are,” Daily Mail reports.

 

According to Customs and Border Protection’s March numbers, more than 5,000 Ukrainians have tried to illegally enter the U.S. via land, air, or sea.

Meanwhile, DHS has extended Ukraine’s temporary protected status for 18 months, granting eligible Ukrainians the right to stay and work in the United States.

Melissa Fine
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