JERSEY CITY, N.J. – U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following statement after the Biden Administration announced the creation of a new program called "Uniting for Ukraine" that will provide a streamlined process for Ukrainian refugees to come to the United States:
“Today, President Biden took us one step closer to restoring our role as a welcoming nation that protects the most vulnerable. In establishing ‘Uniting for Ukraine,’ a parole program that will allow Ukrainians to quickly seek safety in the United States, the Biden administration confirms once again that closing our borders to refugees is simply not who we aspire to be as a nation.
“We cannot fulfill our goal of holding Vladimir Putin accountable for his war crimes in Ukraine if we are not willing to help protect those he continues to brutally victimize. In that vein, I hope the Administration continues to set a global example by quickly resettling Ukrainians rather than using Title 42 to expel desperate Ukrainian families at our border.
“This moment reminds us that our immigration laws should be used to meet the needs of the most vulnerable people fleeing war, violence, and persecution. I will continue to call on the Administration to restore full access to our asylum laws at the Southern border, where too many Black and Brown migrants in our hemisphere have been denied the opportunity to seek humanitarian protection in the United States.”
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