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For the last eleven months it has been my pleasure to assist a Ukrainian mother and two children in making a temporary home in Minnesota. Back home in Ukraine, with their husband and father on active duty in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, they wished for a reprieve from air alarms and blackouts, while here in St. Paul, I wanted to do something in appreciation of Ukraine’s fight against the forces of repression and corruption. We found each other through the Uniting for Ukraine program.
This program allowed private citizens to sponsor Ukrainians to spend two years in the United States – an arrangement called humanitarian parole. To become a sponsor, I had to show that I could cover their living expenses for the first little while and was prepared to arrange a place for them to live, school enrollment for the children, a job for the mother and so on. Both sides had to pass a background check.
Relatives, friends and even friends-of-friends heard that I was planning for this family’s arrival and, unbidden, offered housewares, furniture and cash, as well as messages of welcome and invitations to socialize. I confidently told the Ukrainians that a caring community awaited them in America.
With bravery and diligent effort, the three have settled in well. The mother works full-time in a grocery deli, the children have mastered the routines of middle and high school, and all are now good English speakers. They know the people and dogs in neighboring apartments. The kids love disc golf and are learning to ski at one of our city parks.
At the same time, they all long for home. They are proud and patriotic Ukrainians. If it’s safe for them to return before the end of their parole period, they’ll be delighted. But it is no safer now than when they left, and they are less than halfway through the time the U.S. promised they could spend here.
Last week, the Trump administration not only paused the Uniting for Ukraine program, but actually authorized Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to cancel the humanitarian parole of people for whom it is still valid. I see nothing in the documents that have been released to indicate this could not happen to my Ukrainian family.
