Cnn
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Sasha had only heard of South Carolina, and even less from the city of Hartsville, when he and his family moved there in September 2022.
They were forced to suddenly leave their lives to Kyiv because of War with Russia. They are not the only Ukrainians in the “small rural community” where they were welcomed and began to rebuild their lives.
“For me, the United States was like a fortress of democracy, freedom, opportunities, and I thought, finally, I am in the place where I can start my life again,” said Sasha, who does not use his family name for fear of reprisals, to CNN.
Sasha, his wife and young daughter, are among around 280,000 Ukrainians who moved to the United States by “uniting for Ukraine” (U4U), a program for American humanitarian liberation that allowed private American citizens to sponsor and help support Ukrainian refugees.
Now, Sasha’s family and dozens of other people who came to the United States as part of the U4U program fear that their lives will be uprooted again, because decisions on parole extensions, temporary protected status and work authorizations have been interrupted in the midst of the Radical changes from the Trump administration to the immigration system.
“It could really be catastrophic, not only for Ukrainian families, but for our community,” said Curtis Lee, Sasha sponsor and a member of “Carolinas for Ukraine”.
A spokesperson for citizenship and immigration services from the United States said that there was “administrative taking on all requests for USCIS pending services filed by parole within the framework of the Union for Ukraine (U4U) process.”
“This is awaiting the completion of an additional verification to identify any fraud, public security or national security problems,” they said in a press release at CNN. “USCIS is committed to protecting the integrity of the immigration system of our country and to achieve the mandate of President Trump and secretary Noem to become America again.”
For Ligna Avetisian and Alina Mirzoian, Ukrainian cousins who settled with their family in Dewitt, Iowa, this “administrative taking” could explain the end of their American dream. They paid thousands of demand fees through the immigration system, but have not yet received temporary protection status (TPS) and administration, dealing with humanitarian conditional release extensions, before their design, their sponsor Angela Boelens explained. The lack of action threatens to leave them in the limbo.
Avetisian said she felt betrayed. Boelens, who is also president of Iowa NewComer Community & Exchange (IA Nice), said the community also feels betrayed.
“This community is absolutely devastated. We do not know what we are going to do with all homemade mortgages here in town, people who lose their precious employees, their friends at school cry. They had to hire a school advisor locally to help children understand what’s going on,” she told CNN. Boelens explained that the community “had collected half a million dollars to buy transitional houses” so that the new arrivals remain. Some have since been able to buy their own houses.
“This whole community feels really injured, and it is a very, very red community, they are incredulous,” she said. “So they will never work out again and will help people as they did because they also feel like they were betrayed.”
Sam Heer, who employs four Ukrainian workers, including Avetisian and Mirzoian, told CNN “that it would hurt” if they were to leave.
Heer said the community has committed to helping them with their invoices. He asked for work visas for the four, but he does not have “a good feeling” for the status of these permits, he said.
“These are great assets for our community, they work hard. They want to learn. They want to support their families, “he said.
The city of Hartsville is also preparing for the potential impact if their Ukrainian neighbors cannot stay.
“They have become an integral part of our community,” said Lee to CNN, noting at least one company based on the qualified work of reinstalled Ukrainians. “People just kissed him. And it will tear us away if it happens.”
Lee warned that the American government “does nothing will really force many of them to leave”.
“They should at least give them a certain certainty,” he said, “even if they simply kicked on the road and have all given them conditional release and work permit until mid-term.”
Lee, who said he was a registered republican, believes that the U4U program aligns the priorities of the Trump administration. Due to the appearance of sponsorship, it has a relatively low cost for the American government. Boelens described the program as “the right type of refugee program, managed perfectly”.
“The United States is not on the hook for tickets,” noted Lee. “We mainly take the burden of resettlement,” he noted.
“Small towns like mine, we have to bring people, just from a point of view of the pure population, and in particular those who will bring additional talents and diversity,” he said.
The Ukrainians who came to the United States via U4U “followed the legal process”.
“They suffered the checks of the history. They did everything they are supposed to do. They follow the laws. They pay their taxes,” said Lee. “For all this speech, well, you know, we will get rid of immigrants who are not good for the United States – it is not this group.”
Uncertainty and fear
For the Ukrainians who could be affected, the specter of the uproot of their lives has already been traumatic.
“I feel really bad in the situation,” said Mirzoian, telling CNN that she feels “nervous all the time”.
Avetisian who came with her husband as well as her daughter now 14, and Mirzoian came to Dewitt in May 2023 near kyiv. They had returned to Ukraine after having moved for two months in Bulgaria at the start of the Russian war, but in the fall of 2022, life was “more difficult and more dangerous” in the midst of Moscow relentless attacks on critical infrastructure.
“No light, electricity and it was cold, and we were sitting in our homes with candles,” she explained.
When they came to Dewitt, they were welcomed in the community, where some other Ukrainian families had also settled.
“People here are all so good. They really helped us,” Avetisian told CNN. Now, if they are made to leave, they don’t think they can go back to Ukraine.
“I don’t want to take my 14 year old daughter and go to another country and start there and learn a new language and have new friends and look for a new house. It’s very difficult, ”she said.
Sasha said he had the impression of being back in the “worst period” of his life during the war, where he had the impression that he did not control his life.
His family fled kyiv with only a few minutes to pack their suitcases after explosions near their home and separated for several months – his wife and daughter went to Italy when he was helped to build shelters in Ukraine. He heard of the U4U program through a friend, and the family quickly made the decision to apply so that they can be together.
They were “a little confused and frightened because we do not know where we are going, we did not know what to expect,” said Sasha.
Speaking on a video chat with Lee and his wife, Barbara, who were their sponsors, helped to appease some of these fears, he said. Their concerns were supported when they arrived.
Now Sasha has restarted his construction company in Hartsville, building tiny affordable houses from shipping containers.
“He has invested a lot, not only in time and efforts, but he has a rental contract for the place he uses to build things, he bought a lot of equipment,” said Lee.
“I try not to think” of leaving the United States, said Sasha. He recalled that his daughter had just started talking when they moved to the United States after having had to move several times.
“She had the same question all the time:” Dad, where is our house? ” When you can’t answer this question, I can’t even explain what it is, “he told CNN. “A few months ago, she started calling this place where we live, she started calling her home.”