AILA Public Statements, Press Releases

AILA Calls on Biden Administration to Help Ukrainian Nationals as Russia Invades

WASHINGTON, DC – The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and its more than 15,000 members call on the Biden administration to move immediately to help Ukrainian nationals as Russia invades Ukraine.

AILA President Allen Orr stated, “Our hearts go out to the Ukrainian people as their country is assaulted by Russia and peoples’ lives are lost and upended. The situation is untenable, and the early news coverage is confirming that many Ukrainians are fleeing for their lives. AILA calls on the Biden administration to immediately ensure that Ukrainian nationals who may be eligible to come to the United States may safely and expeditiously do so and to ensure that we do not send people back to danger. AILA calls on the Biden administration to take all necessary steps to expeditiously adjudicate cases filed by or on behalf of Ukrainian nationals and to provide a small measure of security for Ukrainians who may already be in the United States by designating Ukraine for Temporary Protected Status and implementing a temporary moratorium on removals to Ukraine. Only then can the United States live up to its ideal of providing a place of refuge for those fleeing violence.”