MINNEAPOLIS, MN – According to the United Citizenship and Immigration Services, more than 215,000 Ukrainian refugees fled Russia’s war against Ukraine and fled to the United States. Many leave friends and family behind and never know they will see them again.
Snow covers destroyed buildings in Kiev, Ukraine, 9 months after the Russian invasion. For mother and daughter Elizabeth Surjko and Victoria Bolotina, snow may be the only thing they have in common in their new home in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
“The last month has been very difficult in Ukraine because there is no electricity,” said 21-year-old Bolotina.
The Kiev native left her father and husband and came to America less than a month ago.
Russia’s Putin said the Ukraine war could be a “long process”, insisting he was not “crazy” about nuclear weapons.
Mother and daughter Elizabeth Surjko and Victoria Bolotina came to Minneapolis with their sister and daughter Polina. The eldest daughter and mother are looking for work, and Polina goes to kindergarten.
(Fox News/Mills Hayes)
“I don’t know if I’ll ever see him again. I love him so much,” Bolotina said through tears.
They are among millions of Ukrainians who fled after the Russian invasion last February.
“For us, the first priority is to go to work and get a job,” said Bolotina. – Also, I really wanted to go to college, work and study at the same time.
Bolotina is currently taking online night classes at the University of Ukraine due to the time difference in Minnesota. Her sister Polina is in kindergarten. For now, she helps her mother translate and navigate life in the US
According to the United Citizenship and Immigration Services, New York, Chicago and Seattle welcomed the most Ukrainian families through I-134 supporters.
They are both looking for work, as is their housemate Alexandra Chirkova, who owns a beauty salon in Berdyansk and has more than 10 years of experience in cosmetology. In Ukraine, cosmetology is more like the American version of aesthetics. Chirkova often works with her clients on permanent makeup, lip fillers and other skin care treatments.
“I am looking for such a job here, but I know that it is very difficult to get a license here, I don’t know how to get it,” said Chirkova.
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services says the majority of Ukrainian refugees are women and children, meaning they also face childcare challenges.
“There are often language barriers that prevent Ukrainians from working in their chosen field,” said Krish O’mara Vignarajah, president and CEO. “Transportation is a big obstacle. They don’t have cars.”
VKT named the President of Ukraine ZELENSKY “ODE OF THE YEAR” 2022.
Vignarajah said she hopes the administration will understand that “these refugees need not just short-term protection, but long-term support and a permanent pathway you know, long-term status.”
Asvar Rahman, director of the American Service in Ukraine, helps Ukrainian families come to the United States. He saw the suffering of the Ukrainian people on the news and took a flight to help in March of last year. Rahman said their first family arrived at the end of the summer, and since then they have welcomed a total of 12 families.
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services says the majority of Ukrainian refugees are mothers and children.
(Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service)
On April 21, 2022, the United States announced an important step toward fulfilling President Biden’s commitment to welcome Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion. It allows Ukrainian citizens outside the US and their immediate family members to come to the country and stay temporarily for a 2-year parole period.
For refugees who want to go to college or get professional certifications, they need to continue their previous careers, Rahman doesn’t know if they should spend their time doing that or work to earn money, because they have a limited amount of time to stay.
“I would like the government to allow people to make long-term plans, to make it clear that we have no intention of sending any of our friends back to places that are currently unlivable,” Rahman said. “I hope the government will eventually extend.”
Rahman is now in Poland to recruit more families because of the dangerous fighting in Ukraine. According to him, the opportunity to meet the labor shortage in the United States is amazing.
“Minnesota currently has at least 100,000 open positions, and we’re a state of 5 million,” Rahman said. “We really need people to come [to] our public schools and I’m sure our private schools too. We all need students. We all suffer. We all need new community members.”
American Service in Ukraine said it is looking for volunteers in the Minneapolis area to pick up refugees from the airport, help them find housing and find jobs.
(Fox News/Mills Hayes)
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The Tent for Refugees Partnership works with the business community to employ refugees. In September they hosted US Business Summit Here, 45 of America’s leading brands, including Amazon, Hilton, Pfizer and PepsiCo, have pledged to hire more than 22,000 refugees in the US over the next three years.
Yaron Schwartz is Associate Director of Global Partnerships and US Lead at Tent. He says there are business benefits to hiring refugees, according to a study by the Fiscal Policy Institute.
“A majority of employers reported that refugees have lower turnover rates than average workers,” Schwartz said. “American consumers could actually buy products from a company that agreed to hire refugees.”
Fox reached out to U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar on Monday about how long the government would allow Ukrainians to stay in the U.S., but did not hear back.