Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio, the heads of the Senate Ukraine Caucus, joined with Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to urge the Biden administration on Monday to grant Ukrainians temporary protected status, a time-limited protection that provides deportation relief and work permits for people from designated countries in crisis.
It is clearly too dangerous for Ukrainians to return to their home country, which is being attacked by land, sea and air by Russian forces, the senators wrote. At least 353 civilians have been killed since Russia invaded Ukraine, Ukrainian officials estimate.
"Forcing Ukrainian nationals to return to Ukraine in the midst of a war would be inconsistent with America's values and our national security interests," the letter said. "As a nation, we must do our part to protect the safety of Ukrainians in the United States."
The letter was signed by three dozen other senators, including Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., the only other Republican to join the call.
Designating Ukraine for TPS would create "minimal disruption" for the U.S., the senators said, citing statistics from the U.S. Department of State that only 29,510 nonimmigrant visas were issued to Ukrainian nationals in fiscal year 2020.
They also stressed the security safeguards built into the immigration program, saying that people with certain criminal histories or who pose a national security threat are ineligible for TPS. Moreover, the U.S. government may terminate the program at its discretion, the senators said.
"Granting TPS to the limited population of Ukrainians who are currently in the U.S. on a temporary basis will create a minimal disruption for our country, but forcing these individuals to return to a war zone would be unacceptable," the senators said.
The Biden administration is facing mounting calls to prevent the deportation of Ukrainians, with eight members of the House of Representatives — half of them Republicans — leading up a formal request for TPS. Dozens of House Democrats issued a separate call for TPS on Monday.
Last Thursday, more than 100 organizations, including Amnesty International USA and Human Rights Watch, urged the White House to grant Ukrainians TPS or deferred enforced departure, a similar form of deportation relief.
Currently, the U.S. has provided TPS protections for people from a dozen countries, including Burma, Yemen and El Salvador. Afghanistan is not designated under the program, despite pleas from immigration and human rights advocates to provide those immigration protections for Afghans evacuated to the U.S., many of whom have no clear path to legally stay in the country after their parole expires.
--Editing by Robert Rudinger.
Update: This article has been updated with calls by other members of Congress to give Ukrainians temporary protected status.
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