An Uncertain Future for Ukrainian Refugees in the U.S.

Thousands who fled to safety in America are now caught in immigration limbo. Will they be forced to return home?

- KATHERINE FUNG

UNTIL LAST MONTH, LARYSA Atamas did not know where she and her 9-year-old son would go once their time in the U.S. was up in April. What she did know was that going back to the city they once called home-Kharkiv, Ukrainewas not an option.

It's been nearly 14 months since Russia first invaded Ukraine, sparking a refugee crisis and one of the largest mass migrations of the past century. Out of more than 8 million Ukrainians who have fled the country since the war broke out, over 270,000 came to the U.S. For roughly 20,000 of them who, like Atamas, entered the country under the federal government's humanitarian parole program, their time in America is ticking as the one-year limit on their stays nears.

"April is approaching, and we are panicking more and more," Atamas, whose parole expires April 16, told Newsweek, in an interview last month.

Of the three most common ways that Ukrainians fleeing the war came to the U.S., humanitarian parolees are in the most precarious position, with fewer rights and shorter deadlines on their time in America than those granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS) or who are beneficiaries under the Uniting for Ukraine (U4U) program. Arriving after April 11-the cutoff for Ukrainians to get Temporary Protected Status-but before the Biden administration rolled out U4U on April 25, parolees were granted only one year to stay in the U.S. upon their arrival at the U.S.-Mexico border. On the other hand, U4U beneficiaries are allotted two years and TPS beneficiaries 18 months. In addition, the TPS designation also protects individuals from deportation in cases where there is active conflict or unrest in their home countries a security that parolees do not have.

While parolees do have access to refugee benefits like food stamps, Medicaid, cash assistance and the opportunity to apply for work authorization, parolees critically do not have refugee status, which would create a pathway for citizenship.