Faith leaders and immigration advocates have been holding President Joe Biden’s feet to the fire in their quest to move America toward a more compassionate and comprehensive approach to immigration. But this week, the Biden administration did something immigration advocates liked, and they sent a word of thanks to the president.
The Evangelical Immigration Table sent a letter to Biden and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, thanking them for the decision to grant Temporary Protected Status for Ukrainians who already are present in the U.S.
This will affect an estimated 75,000 people and is good for up to 18 months.
“The designation of TPS for Ukrainians who are present in the United States right now, such that they need not fear deportation but can stay and work in the U.S. at least until the conflict is resolved, is an important way that the U.S. can stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine,” the letter says.
But the faith leaders didn’t miss the opportunity to drive home once again their main point: This is a good reason to rebuild the U.S. refugee resettlement program and the country’s capacity to fairly adjudicate asylum requests, “so that some of those forced to flee Ukraine — along with those fleeing a credible fear of persecution from other countries — will eventually be able to find refuge in the U.S.”
Signers of the letter include Bethany Christian Services, Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, Faith and Community Empowerment, National Association of Evangelicals, National Latino Evangelical Coalition, The Wesleyan Church, World Relief and World Vision.
Myal Greene
“World Relief has been honored to resettle more than 7,000 Ukrainians as refugees over the past decade, which is nearly 40% of all Ukrainian refugees resettled to the U.S. in that time frame,” said Myal Greene, president of World Relief. “We also have many staff who are originally from Ukraine, many of whom are desperately concerned about the well-being of their loved ones. Even as we pray for peace and urge neighboring countries in Europe to ensure that no one fleeing persecution is turned away, the U.S. should certainly not be deporting anyone to Ukraine at this time. We thank President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas for their decision to grant Temporary Protected Status to Ukrainians, while urging them to continue to rebuild the U.S. refugee resettlement program and asylum system to be able offer refuge to those from Ukraine and from similar situations of persecution.”
Likewise, Brent Leatherwood, acting president of the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, praised the Biden administration action: “Granting TPS is a simple, but significant, action for Ukrainians avoiding the violence of Vladimir Putin. America has long been a refuge for those fleeing despots, and I’m thankful we haven’t hesitated to open our doors at this moment of chaos in Eastern Europe. The world desperately needs a U.S. that is engaged with the international community, responsive to global developments, and welcoming to refugees in need of shelter from tyranny.”
An estimated 1.5 million refugees have fled Ukraine already, a mass migration the International Organization of Migration has called “the fastest and largest displacement of people in Europe since World War II.”
Meanwhile, an estimated 1.5 million refugees have fled Ukraine already, a mass migration the International Organization of Migration has called “the fastest and largest displacement of people in Europe since World War II.”
For now, the majority of these refugees want to stay in Europe. How many might want to come to the United States, and how many would be accepted are both unknown.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN on Sunday: “The United States is committed to doing anything we can, first of all, to support the countries that are bearing the immediate burden of taking in Ukrainians. And then, as appropriate, if people seek refugee status in the United States, of course we will look at that and I’m sure act on that.”
One problem with processing large numbers of Ukrainian refugees is that the Biden administration and the relief agencies that specialize in immigration are still rebuilding infrastructure torn down or left dormant by the Trump administration in its anti-immigrant zeal.
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks with members of Ukrainian Civil Society at the the Bristol Hotel on March 5, 2022 in Rzeszow, Poland. (Photo by Omar Marques/Getty Images)
Compounding that challenge: The U.S. is still in the throes of processing Afghans who came to America — or want to come to America — after their homeland fell to the Taliban last year. To date, an estimated 85,000 Afghan refugees have been resettled in the U.S., but thousands more are reported waiting in the United Arab Emirates, Albania, Mexico and other countries. And about 100,000 Afghans who have applied for Special Immigrant Visa are still waiting in Afghanistan.
And further, the Biden administration is still trying to clean up one of the greatest disasters created by the Trump administration — the separation of parents from their children at the southern border.
The current status of that Herculean task was summed up recently by Jacob Soboroff of NBC News: “Biden admin and ACLU say they can confirm reunification of 2,762 children with parents from whom they were deliberately separated at border by Trump. More than 1,000 may still remain separated.”
And there’s still the hangover from the Trump administration’s use of the obscure Title 42 provision to keep out immigrants to the U.S. due to the threat of the pandemic. The Biden administration has continued to employ this controversial strategy, much to the dismay of immigrant advocates.
The continued use of Title 42 has created legal battles of its own, which Ali Noorani of the National Immigration Forum attempted to summarize in one paragraph yesterday: “Friday afternoon was a head spinner. Early in the afternoon, as CBS News’ Camilo Montoya-Galvez reported, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the government’s authority to use Title 42 to expel migrants ‘but barred U.S. border officials from expelling families to countries where they could be harmed.’ Hours later, Montoya-Galvez reported that Texas District Court Judge Mark Pittman ruled that the Biden administration cannot exempt unaccompanied migrant children from Title 42 expulsion. As my friend and immigration super-lawyer Karen Tumlin of the Justice Action Center said in a twitter thread explaining what Biden should do now, “That answer has always been clear: End the hot mess dumpster fire of a policy that is Title 42 once and for all for all migrants.”
And on top of all these challenges, desperate situations remain in other parts of the world, and advocates for these refugees also want the administration’s attention.
And on top of all these challenges, desperate situations remain in other parts of the world, and advocates for these refugees also want the administration’s attention.
For example, the Department of Homeland Security recently announced today the designation of Temporary Protected Status for Sudan, and the extension and redesignation of TPS and Special Student Relief for South Sudan.
“The member organizations of the Interfaith Immigration Coalition commend these decisions, but express continued concern for other Black migrants currently being excluded from protection, including Haitians, Cameroonians, Ethiopians and Mauritanians in the United States, and Black migrants attempting to flee Ukraine,” the interfaith group said in a statement last week.
Biden referenced some of these challenges in his State of the Union address, specifically pledging to create a faster legal process for people seeking safety in the United States.
“While efficiency is critical — particularly considering the current asylum backlog — the president must not forget equity,” the Interfaith Immigration Coalition declared. “As part of our faith-grounded call to restore welcome and put an end to anti-Black racism in U.S. immigration, people of faith in the IIC urge the administration to take today’s decisions a step further by granting TPS to Cameroon, Ethiopia and Mauritania, and putting an end to asylum-blocking policies, Remain in Mexico and Title 42, which disproportionately harm Haitians and other Black migrants.”
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