#Petition: Help Ukrainian refugees - U​.​S. Needs to Accept Ukrainian Refugees IMMEDIATELY

Ashley’s husband, Misha, is Ukrainian American. After waking up to the sound of explosions and artillery fire, his family in Ukraine piled into the car and fled. But despite the fact that Misha is a US citizen, his family was not allowed to seek refuge here. After weeks of uncertainty, Biden finally committed to accepting 100,000 refugees from Ukraine. But more than 10 million have fled the country, and those looking to resettle in the US could be blocked from doing so until 2023. Ashley knows Ukrainians need help now. Sign to ask Biden and Congress to take action for Ukrainian refugees. U​.​S. Needs to Accept Ukrainian Refugees IMMEDIATELY 109,543 have signed Ashley Testa’s petition. Let’s get to 150,000!

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*UPDATE: March 24, 2022* On May 24th, thankfully the Biden Administration announced that the U.S. would accept 100,000 refugees from Ukraine, but many still have concerns. The Administration has yet to detail their process for accepting refugees, and reports have come out indicating that many refugees may not be able to enter the country until 2023. Additionally, given that 3.7 million people have left Ukraine, 100,000 will only make a small dent in the overall resettlement support needed. As a country, we need to do more. Please continue to sign and share the petition and click here to email Biden urging him to build out a speedy, streamlined process for refugees, and increase the number of refugees able to enter. Please help to reunite Ukrainian refugees with their families in the U.S. who can support and help them to rebuild their lives by signing this petition to President Biden and other White House Officials. My name is Ashley Testa and my family is in crisis. On the morning of February 23rd, my family woke up to the sound of explosions followed by artillery fire. They quickly fled and piled into the car. Despite the fact that my husband, Misha, has U.S. citizenship, our family was not allowed to seek refuge in the U.S. At present, there is NO official Ukrainian Refugee Program in the U.S. for Ukrainian families to come to the United States—even for those who have immediate family members as U.S. citizens or residents or official sponsors. Misha’s mother, sister, sister-in-law, and our four nieces and nephews, ages 5-12, left everything behind. Most tragically, they had to leave their fathers, husbands, sons behind. We do not know if or when they will be reunited. Our family drove towards Poland while bombs went off in the background. They had to share blankets to stay warm in the frigid weather and ration their limited food and gas. After 5 days of driving, they reached the border.  They planned to board a plane to the U.S., but realized that since only one family member had a U.S. green card, they could not go to the U.S. as a family. We were shocked. Luckily, since then, 7 of our family members have received visa approval. However, this is incredibly rare. Only 7 Ukrainian refugees resettled in the U.S. from March 1 - 16. Appointments for Ukrainians to interview for a U.S. visa are booked out through September. Most will also not be approved. Other options such as the Family Reunification immigration process currently have a wait time of about 15 years! President Biden has made several statements over the past week stating that he would “welcome Ukrainian refugees with open arms,” but has yet to do something about it. Lawmakers have proposed solutions, such as offering Humanitarian Parole, and are waiting for action. We beg you to allow Ukrainian families to come here. We’re on our hands and knees. They’ve been through enough. They’ve lost everything. My hope is to reach 500,000 signatures in order to demonstrate the passion of the American people to help refugees to resettle here to President Biden.

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