Homeland Security has approved 6,000 visas for Ukrainians coming to the US from Europe after closing the route through Tijuana
- The visas will be approved after Ukrainians fleeing the war submitted an application through an online portal called Uniting for Ukraine
- The online portal was launched on April 25 and the US stopped accepting migrants across the US-Mexico border
- Some have criticized the program for its lengthy paperwork and the fact that it requires reliable internet access
- Ukrainian refugees participating in the program arrived on Friday, DHS said in a statement
The Department of Homeland Security has approved nearly 6,000 visas for Ukrainians, allowing them to fly into US airports and then stay with a US foster family, the agency said.
The visas are approved after Ukrainians fleeing the war submitted an application through an online portal called Uniting for Ukraine, which launched April 25 as part of President Biden’s pledge to allow 100,000 Ukrainians to be resettled in allow the US
However, the launch of the online portal is accompanied by the closure of the Tijuana port of entry for Ukrainians. Many had taken the dangerous and unlawful route of first traveling to Mexico on tourist visas, then camping and waiting for border police to transport them from Tijuana to California. But on April 25, border officials began turning away Ukrainians attempting to enter through this route, having previously admitted about 20,000 at the southern border.
Association for Ukraine is now the only way for refugees fleeing Russian aggression to apply for parole on humanitarian grounds, although some have criticized the program for its lengthy paperwork and the fact that it requires reliable internet access .
Ukrainians who fled to Mexico to try to enter the US at the southern border are stuck at General Abelardo L. Rodriguez International Airport after learning on April 25 that the US no longer accepts Ukrainians this way
Ukrainians who fled their home country walk with their belongings to the San Ysidro land port of entry on the US-Mexico border on April 2, before the US stops accepting migrants this way
A Ukrainian family arrives at a shelter in Tijuana on April 21
Ukrainian refugees participating in the program arrived on Friday, DHS said in a statement.
The U.S. Citizens and Immigration Service has received more than 19,000 requests from Americans willing to open their homes to sponsor refugees.
According to the United Nations, about 5.9 million of Ukraine’s 44 million people have fled since Vladimir Putin’s invasion, with the majority going to eastern European countries like Poland and Romania.
Ukrainians seeking asylum in the United States stay at the Benito Juarez sports complex, set up by the local government as a shelter, in Tijuana, Mexico April 23, just before the US barred migrants from Tijuana
Larysa, a Ukrainian seeking asylum in the United States, reads a letter on April 23
Thousands of Ukrainians rushed frantically to the Tijuana border just before the April 25 deadline, before the official process began. On that day, the Biden administration reinstated Health Ordinance Title 42 for Ukrainian refugees, stopping entry into the United States without prior request.
The Biden administration had attempted to end Title 42 beginning May 23, but that move was blocked by a federal court over lawsuits from states saying ending pandemic-era immigration restrictions are exacerbating migrant flows at the southern border becomes.
A record 2.4 million migrants have come into contact with agents at the southern border since President Biden took office in late January 2021. In March, 221,000 migrants were arrested, almost a 20-year high.
