Those fleeing Ukraine deserve full refugee status

We are very much interested in becoming sponsors of Ukrainian refugees, however, we just learned that so far, the U.S. is only planning on providing “Humanitarian Parole” instead of Refugee status to the Ukrainian refugees. This is a huge mistake and is likely to result in us not being able to be sponsors.

Humanitarian Parole (which even the term sounds sinister) would only permit refugees to stay in the U.S. for up to two years with NO pathway to permanent residency. This puts them in a 2-year limbo. 

Additionally, Humanitarian Parole has no means of providing funds or resources for medical care. This is a huge non-starter for us and we are sure for many others who do not have great means to cover these potentially massive costs. 

— Elaine and Joe Lieber, Sonoma