Mykola Vashchuk may be thousands of miles away from his hometown of Kyiv, but life has become busier than ever.
He runs Pierogi’s food business here in Cleveland and returns in Ukraine to earn his law degree from Cleveland State University while working part-time for a local charity. His wife works in a nursery, and the couple is raising two sons. He and his family built a new life on the shores of Lake Eri, where they fled Ukraine in December 2022 after a Russian bomb exploded two windows in their Kiev apartment.
“We decided to come to the US because we had no electricity or water,” he says.
But the Trump administration’s threat to end programs that allowed Ukrainians to live and work legally in the United States is in favor of all his efforts.
“I applied for TPS (Temporary Protection Status) five days ago, and who knows (what happens). Our application is still pending,” he says.
Three years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians lived new lives in the United States. One of the largest communities, around 15,000 people, have come to Cleveland, which has been bleeding residents for decades.
Shortly after taking office, Trump suspended his decision to apply for unity for the Ukraine (U4U) parole sponsorship program. Many people fear that they will shut down their programs forever.
Last month, the Biden administration expanded the TPS for more than 100,000 Ukrainians already in the US for 18 months until October next year. Since then, Trump has ordered a review of the broader TPS program that could affect the homes of around 1 million people from 17 countries that have escaped violence, anxiety and environmental disasters.
I don’t know what will happen here tomorrow
Tetiana
For several years, US vice president JD Vance has repeatedly called for an end to support Ukraine. Many fear that they may force Kiev to agree to a settlement with Russia, which maintains some or all of the Ukrainian territory that Moscow currently occupy. . Comments by Pentagon chief Pete Hegses and Trump himself last week seemed to be undermining and embracing Ukrainian negotiating positions in peace talks to end the war.
The bonds bound by Cleveland and Ukraine date back to over a century. The first Ukrainian immigrants settled in the city’s Tremont area in the 1880s and worked in the booming manufacturing industry in the area. Thousands more were drawn to Cleveland after World War I.
Today, Palma, a city south of downtown Cleveland, is home to a Ukrainian village neighbourhood, with half a dozen churches and cathedrals in Ukrainian churches and half a dozen churches and cathedrals. Its main boulevards line the Ukrainian flags, the language that Ukrainians are heard in many local shops and cafes.
Cleveland serves as a key centre for Ukrainians, who 1 in 10 Ukrainians in the US, through TPS, who live in northeast Ohio, are employed as medical professionals at the Cleveland Clinic.
“For the past three years I have seen cleaning companies, flower shops and design shops open. I had coffee at a brand new Ukrainian coffee shop. A new Ukrainian store opened in Parma. “We’ve seen them do,” says Zachary Nelson, program director for Global Cleveland, a nonprofit that works with immigrants, including dozens of Ukrainian families, through Ukrainian unity.
“There’s an Amazon Resell location where 80% of the staff are U4U recipients. They’re our rust removers in the rust belt. They’re our buffing agents.”
Midwest states such as Ohio have struggled to maintain or grow their population for decades. Recent research suggests that the presence of immigrants has prevented the number from dropping.
Nelson says several Ukrainians share fears that their immigrant status could be cancelled. “They ask: ‘Do we have to leave within two months? Are they going to arrest us and send us to Guantanamo Bay?” he says.
“When you’re getting all the information from Facebook and Twitter, stress is real.”
Other global events have overtaken much of the coverage of the war in Ukraine, but the conflict there continues unabated.
“I’ll tell my parents and sister in Kiev,” says Tetyana, the mother of a Cleveland-resident. “There’s an attack every day.”
They are our rust removers in the rust belt
Zachary Nelson, Global Cleveland
This winter, like in the past few years, Ukrainians suffered from blackouts as Russia bombed power plants and other major infrastructure. The US State Department currently has a Level 4 “No Travel” warning for Ukraine. Moscow is expected to increase attacks nationwide in the coming weeks as the third anniversary of a full-scale invasion approaches.
Now in Cleveland, almost two and a half years, Tetiana says her 6-year-old son is well settled in school and even became a Cleveland Browns fan who watches on TV every Sunday during the NFL season.
“We’re going to church in Parma,” she says. “There’s a really amazing community here.”
However, the past few weeks have created a panic between her. She came to the US through U4U and also applied for TPS and her relatives.
“Now, I’m very worried about what will happen as the war continues. The war won’t stop and I don’t know what will happen here tomorrow,” she says.
“The government may close this program – we heard they can stop it soon – and tell us to go home. But it’s still dangerous in Ukraine. I only have TPS until April. It’s coming soon. I don’t know what to do.”
She says she wants to stay in the US because her son is safe. “I hear that there is a war in Ukraine every day,” she says.
“I’m worried about my son’s life.”
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