It was not a reunion, but it surely appeared like one. They'd by no means met earlier than in-person, however they hugged like shut associates after a chronic separation. One among them was an American citizen born in Ghana and the opposite was a Ukrainian teenager launched from U.S. authorities custody.
On April 29, Sharon Fletcher traveled to New York's LaGuardia Airport to choose up Yelyzaveta, a 17-year-old Ukrainian woman who had been residing in a authorities shelter for unaccompanied minors in federal custody. Yelyzaveta mentioned she teared up when she hugged Fletcher, who had agreed to sponsor her so she could possibly be launched from U.S. custody.
"I used to be crying," Yelyzaveta mentioned, recalling their encounter on the airport's baggage declare space. "I used to be so glad." CBS Information just isn't disclosing Yelyzaveta's surname as a result of she is a minor.
Lower than two hours after they met, Yelyzaveta and Fletcher boarded a flight to the Washington, D.C., space, the place Fletcher, her husband and their two younger boys are internet hosting the Ukrainian woman of their Maryland residence.
"We undoubtedly have a 3rd little one. My husband says that on a regular basis," Fletcher mentioned.
Yelyzaveta is certainly one of hundreds of Ukrainians who've entered the U.S. alongside the southern border since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February. In two months, the U.S. allowed a report 20,000 Ukrainians to enter the nation beneath humanitarian exceptions to pandemic border restrictions, authorities knowledge present.
However a small variety of the Ukrainians who've requested entry alongside the U.S.-Mexico border have been minors touring with out their dad and mom, prompting U.S. authorities to course of them as unaccompanied youngsters who should stay in authorities custody till they're positioned with a sponsor or flip 18.
As of Tuesday, the Workplace of Refugee Resettlement, the Division of Well being and Human Companies (HHS) company that cares for unaccompanied minors, was housing 30 youngsters from Ukraine, a U.S. official informed CBS Information, requesting anonymity to debate inner statistics.
Many of those Ukrainian youngsters traveled from Europe to Mexico with nonparental relations, like grandparents, uncles and aunts, in accordance with immigration attorneys. Others, like Yelyzaveta, reached the U.S.-Mexico border with unrelated companions, like associates, or fully alone.
Due to a 2008 regulation designed to guard migrant minors from exploitation, these Ukrainian youth displaced by the warfare of their homeland have ended up in U.S. authorities shelters that predominantly home youngsters who've escaped excessive poverty, meals insecurity and violence in Central America.
Total, Ukrainian youngsters make up a small portion of greater than 8,000 unaccompanied minors at present in HHS custody, in accordance with company statistics.
Erik Pinheiro, an lawyer with the advocacy group Al Otro Lado who has assisted migrant youngsters alongside the Tijuana-San Diego border, together with just a few dozen from Ukraine, mentioned all unaccompanied minors needs to be allowed to request U.S. asylum, no matter their nationality.
"Legally, they need to be capable of simply stroll as much as a port of entry and be admitted by [Customs and Border Protection] as a result of unaccompanied youngsters should not topic to Title 42. However that is not what's taking place in follow for non-Ukrainian youngsters," Pinheiro mentioned, referring to the pandemic-era border restrictions.
The move of Ukrainians flying to Mexico to hunt entry alongside the U.S. border has slowed not too long ago after U.S. authorities stopped admitting most undocumented Ukrainians on April 25, when the Biden administration launched a program for sponsoring Ukrainian refugees, in accordance with attorneys and U.S. officers.
Whereas she referred to as her preliminary detention by U.S. border officers close to San Diego a "horrible" expertise, Yelyzaveta mentioned she considers herself fortunate since she had somebody within the U.S. keen to take care of her.
"I simply noticed a human being in want"
Yelyzaveta mentioned she traveled to Mexico to start out a Christian missionary program two weeks earlier than Russia launched its navy offensive in opposition to Ukraine, the place her dad and mom and brother stay. When the warfare began, she mentioned she did not know what to do. Returning to Ukraine was not an possibility.
After discovering out about Yelyzaveta's predicament, Fletcher, who runs a nonprofit group referred to as Forgotten Locations that sponsors younger Christian missionaries the world over, mentioned she supplied to host the Ukrainian teenager in her residence.
Yelyzaveta traveled to the Tijuana-San Diego border in early April, when U.S. officers have been admitting lots of of Ukrainians per day. However as a result of she was a minor touring with a good friend, Yelyzaveta remained in CBP custody for 3 days.
With little else to do, Yelyzaveta mentioned she spent most of her time on the border facility sleeping, although that generally proved troublesome as a result of chilly. Citing the unsavory meals supplied by officers, she mentioned she additionally initially refused to eat.
Yelyzaveta was later flown to Chicago after which to New York, the place caseworkers transferred her to an HHS shelter for unaccompanied minors within the Bronx. Besides for one more Ukrainian woman, the opposite minors on the shelter have been Spanish-speaking migrant youngsters from Latin America, Yelyzaveta mentioned.
Whereas she talked about her keep on the shelter was stuffed with some boredom, Yelyzaveta mentioned the ability workers handled her properly. She additionally mentioned she appreciated studying concerning the perilous journeys some migrant youngsters from Central America undertook to succeed in the U.S. southern border, typically alone.
"I used to be in shock by the tales, how they moved," Yelyzaveta mentioned, citing a dialog with a migrant boy who informed her he had been in U.S. custody for eight months.
Yelyzaveta, however, spent three weeks on the Bronx shelter earlier than being launched to Fletcher, despite the fact that releases of unaccompanied minors to unrelated adults usually take months to course of, in accordance with immigration attorneys who've labored on comparable circumstances.
"Similar to with another unaccompanied little one in our care, it's our obligation to supply protected, acceptable care to unaccompanied migrant youngsters from Ukraine in the course of the time they're in our care," an HHS spokesman mentioned.
Fletcher is grateful the sponsorship course of went easily. The symbolism of a Ghanaian immigrant sponsoring a Ukrainian refugee just isn't misplaced on her. "I used to be born and raised in Africa. I got here right here 20 years in the past. On the finish of the day, whether or not it is Ukrainian or Latin American, we're all people," Fletcher mentioned.
Sponsoring Yelyzaveta was "a no brainer," Fletcher added. "I did not take into consideration the truth that she's from Europe or she's white or that she's not blood associated to me. I simply noticed a human being in want."
In the meantime, Yelyzaveta, who will flip 18 in June, is grateful to have a short lived residence within the U.S. However she mentioned she intends to return to Ukraine "to revive her nation" and see her dad and mom once more as soon as the warfare abates.