Washington, D.C. (June 23, 2022) - This week’s
Parsing Immigration Policy podcast is based on the Center for Immigration Studies recent panel that brought together researchers from Europe and the U.S. to discuss the challenges presented by the Ukrainian refugee crisis, and the lessons learned. The
transcript of the panel is also now available.
One-third of Ukrainians have been forced from their homes with seven million displaced inside the Ukraine and 4.9 million refugees present across Europe. Poland is housing more refugees, 1.1 million, than any other country. Jadwiga Emilewicz, Member of the Parliament of Poland and Advisor to the Prime Minister on the refugee crisis, presented the results of a survey showing detailed information on numbers, costs, demographics, employment, medical, housing and refugee capacity within Poland.
Kristof Gyorgy Veres, Andrássy National Security Fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies and a Senior Researcher at the Migration Research Institute (MRI) in Budapest, focused on Hungary’s experience with the Ukraine refugee crisis. Ukrainian nationals, as visa-free travelers, can choose the EU member state in which they want to exercise the rights attached to temporary protection. Since the start of the Russian invasion more than 1.2 million Ukrainian citizens and legal residents crossed into Hungary from Ukraine and Romania; Hungary is both a frontline country and transit country.
Mark Vargha, also a Senior Researcher at MRI, presented the situation in Romania and Moldova with the aid of photos from his recent field visit. Romania and Moldova are mostly transit countries and Vargha shows how NGOs are helping provide services for the refugees.
Nayla Rush, a senior researcher at the Center for Immigration Studies, concludes the panel with highlights from her recently published
report on the United States’ response to the Ukrainian crisis. Rush emphasized a new program, “Uniting for Ukraine”, created by the Biden administration program to allow individuals to sponsor Ukrainians. She points out that it may be presented as private sponsorship arrangement, but is not necessarily “private”. Federal funds (i.e., taxpayer dollars) that go to resettlement agencies can in turn be used as added support in the Declaration of Financial Support form submitted to admit a Ukrainian beneficiary into the United States, and Ukrainian parolees will receive refugee resettlement benefits, including cash and medical assistance (which were recently extended from eight to 12 months).
How long will the crisis continue and will there be another wave of refugees this winter, when the weather gets cold and heating oil in Ukraine is scarce? These panelists provide insight into whether the EU has the ability and capacity to care for present and future refugees.
