Extension of protected status could help thousands of Ukrainian refugees stay in Spokane

The Biden administration on Friday extended temporary protections for nearly 1 million immigrants from several countries in high conflict who are living in the United States.

This could apply to up to 3,000 or so Ukrainians living in the Spokane area, said Mark Finney, executive director of Thrive International, a local nonprofit that supports immigrants and refugees.

“This is hugely consequential for folks who are here because the places they come from are unsafe and they can’t return,” Finney said.

The 18-month extension of temporary protection status, or TPS, applies to about 600,000 Venezuelans, 232,000 Salvadorans, 103,700 Ukrainians and 1,900 Sudanese who will be eligible to apply for or renew the program.

President-elect Donald Trump has derided the program and vowed to end it, at least for certain countries. The move by the Biden administration makes it almost impossible for Trump to swiftly strip the benefit when he takes office, the New York Times reported.

Although some may be eligible to renew their status, it is not automatic. They still have to apply.

“People breath easier once their application is approved,” Finney said.

Many Ukrainians here on temporary status are from occupied territory in eastern Ukraine. So even if they returned, they wouldn’t be able to go home, Finney said.

Besides temporary protection status, refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine have another option called Uniting for Ukraine, a streamlined humanitarian parole program.

The two programs have different requirements and advantages depending on individual situations. Some apply for both.

The parole program also has an uncertain future under the Trump administration, Finney said.

Mariia Mykhailenko, a resource coordinator for Thrive, has the humanitarian parole status, but has helped hundreds of people through both processes locally.

She said it was easy for her to apply because she speaks English, but for others it can be much harder and expensive, and they may need to hire an immigration attorney.

Mykhailenko said Biden extending the program gives a lot of people hope they can stay in the country.

“If we can stay here another year-and-a-half, that’s another year-and-a-half we can stay alive, be safe, be together, have food, have a job and have a future,” she said.

She said she hopes there can be more pathways to permanent residency and citizenship.

Yuliia Boicheva, who is assistant to the general manager at Thrive, fled Odesa with her family at the start of the war, like Mykhailenko, through the Uniting for Ukraine program.

She said refugees face many challenges adjusting to life in a new country and it is important for them to have a reasonable expectation that they have a future.

“So many people who arrived to the U.S. lost all they had. Most of them lost their house, job, some family, some friends,” Boicheva said. “It’s hard to rebuild everything at the beginning.”

Thrive’s newer center in Tacoma houses about 350 refugees from Angola, Congo and Venezuela who are seeking asylum.

Carlos David Querales Galviz, 31, fled Venezuela a year ago with his wife, applied for temporary protection status in July and is still waiting for his application to be processed.

In an interview through a translator Friday, Querales Galviz said he is relieved about the extension because without the status he would likely be deported.

“Right now, you can’t really live – just survive,” Querales Galviz said of the situation in his home country under Nicolas Maduro.

Querales Galviz said this could buy him more time to apply for asylum, which he said is a process that is hard to understand. He said he hopes his temporary protected status is approved soon so he can obtain a work permit and a job.

“I want to make the most out of this opportunity so I can basically keep my family afloat,” Querales Galviz said. “I am so grateful for all the help.”