I fled Ukraine and rebuilt my life in Georgia. Now my legal status is at risk.
I arrived in Georgia on June 3, 2022, with my son and two backpacks. That’s all we had left after fleeing Kharkiv, Ukraine, when our home was destroyed in the war.
Back in Ukraine, I was proud of the life I had built — a fulfilling career in the oil and gas industry, two master’s degrees, and a stable home for my child. But war does not ask what you’ve achieved. It takes. It forces you to start over.
We came to the United States through a program called Uniting for Ukraine (U4U), which allowed U.S. residents to sponsor Ukrainians fleeing the war, offering us temporary protection called humanitarian parole. It gave us safety and a chance to breathe. It also — miraculously — allowed us to later sponsor my husband to reunite with us as a family. But like thousands of others, we now live with the painful reality that our future here is far from certain.
Humanitarian parole does not lead to permanent residency or citizenship. For many of us in Georgia and across the country, it means that while we work, pay taxes and raise our children, we live under a cloud of anxiety, knowing we could lose our legal status — and everything we’re working to rebuild — with the stroke of a pen.
‘We came here for safety, but we are living in fear’
And that’s what the Trump administration is threatening to do. In one of its first actions in office, it shut down the Uniting for Ukraine program and other similar humanitarian parole programs and paused all pending applications. Since, it has revoked status from people who came in through the Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela (CHNV) humanitarian parole program — and with it ended their work authorization and ability to continue living here legally. Trump has said his administration is deciding whether Ukrainians could be next.
The harsh reality is that at any moment, thousands of families like mine across Georgia and the nation could lose their status, lose their work permits, be forced into legal limbo, or face deportation. In fact, some Ukrainians who came here through U4U have already lost their jobs because their parole expired and their applications to renew were denied or remain unadjudicated.
We came here for safety, but we are living in fear. We’ve contributed in every way we can. But without a permanent solution, we remain at risk of being uprooted again — not by bombs this time, but by broken promises.
What we need is a pathway to permanent residency for humanitarian parolees.
Congress should support permanent humanitarian protections
There are legislative solutions on the table like the Ukrainian Adjustment Act. It is modeled after the Afghan Adjustment Act, which aimed to offer permanent protections for Afghans who came to the United States after the fall of Kabul. We need members of Congress to secure adjustments for both populations, and find similar solutions for Haitians, Venezuelans, Cubans, Nicaraguans and others who entered through humanitarian parole programs and who are now facing uncertainty. These individuals did not come to the United States on a whim. They fled war, violence and catastrophe. They deserve more than temporary compassion.
As humanitarian parolees, Georgia has welcomed us warmly. Our children go to school here. We volunteer. I’ve rebuilt my life in Decatur, where I work supporting other refugees. Many parolees have opened small businesses — like Lviv Croissant, a Ukrainian bakery in Atlanta, and Ukrainian Gift House, a shop that preserves our culture. These are not just businesses — they’re lifelines, symbols of resilience and belonging. We’ve woven ourselves into Georgia’s communities with care and dedication. But despite everything we’ve built, we live in fear. Without permanent protections, all of it — our safety, stability, and futures — could be taken away. We cannot afford to start over again.
For my family, returning to Ukraine is not an option. Our home is gone. The news shows our neighborhoods under relentless bombardment. We cannot raise our son under those conditions.
So, I continue on. I am meeting with local officials here in Georgia and building coalitions to support our cause. But elected officials aren’t the only ones who can help. If you’re reading this, I ask you to take one simple action: contact your members of Congress. Let them know that you support permanent protections for people living here under humanitarian parole.
Tell them that your community includes people like me and my son. All we ask for is the chance to stay, to contribute fully, and to live without fear.
Georgia has given us so much. We hope for the chance to make this home — for good.
Mariia Yatsko is a Refugee Storytellers Collective member from Ukraine, works as an IDA Program Specialist at New American Pathways, and is an advisory council member for the Coalition of Refugee Service Agencies (CRSA). She lives in Decatur, Georgia.
