*UPDATE: April 21st, 2022*

A HUGE THANK YOU and congratulations to everyone who has signed, shared, and promoted this petition! Your efforts have helped to build pressure toward changing policies to help Ukrainian Refugees in need. On April 21st, President Biden announced Uniting for Ukraine, a New Streamlined Process to Welcome Ukrainians Fleeing Russia's Invasion of Ukraine. Uniting for Ukraine is a streamlined process for Ukrainian citizens who have been displaced by Russia’s aggression to apply for humanitarian parole in the United States for a period of up to two years. Click here for the full announcement and information on how to apply starting on April 25th.

We will continue to watch as refugees begin to apply and seek shelter in the United States to ensure that they are able to make it here to safety soon. Additionally, given that 5 million people have left Ukraine, 100,000 will only make a small dent in the overall resettlement support needed. We hope that the Administration will monitor for future needs as the crisis in Ukraine continues.

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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.