World News | US Officers to Help Screen Refugees in Europe
Get latest articles and stories on World at LatestLY. US refugee officers have been sent to Europe to help screen Ukrainian refugees who might want to come to the US. But American officials expect the vast majority will want to return to their homeland.
Washington, Mar 17 (AP) US refugee officers have been sent to Europe to help screen Ukrainian refugees who might want to come to the US. But American officials expect the vast majority will want to return to their homeland.
US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas also said that Customs and Border Protection agents along the US-Mexico border have been instructed to allow Ukrainians to enter the country to seek asylum even as most people are turned back under a public health order instituted at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
More than 3 million people have fled Ukraine following Russia's February 24 invasion.
More than half have gone to Poland. Most of the rest are in the surrounding countries of Eastern Europe, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
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Mayorkas told reporters Thursday that US refugee officers have been sent to the region to work with the UN and determine whether some Ukrainians may seek to come to the US through the refugee program. But he and other administration officials are not expecting many will want to come.
“The vast majority of Ukrainians are displaced in the countries in that region, with the hope, understandably, of being able to return to their country,” the secretary said.(AP)
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)