Sen. Ed Markey calls on the U.S. to lift the cap on Ukrainian refugees

U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., is urging the United States to accept more refugees fleeing Ukraine as it battles Russia’s ongoing invasion, saying there should be no cap on how many people come as a result of the world’s largest humanitarian crisis since World War II.

“‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free’ has always guided how we treat all of those fleeing war and persecution,” Markey said, quoting the famous poem by Emma Lazarus on the Statue of Liberty.

Though the U.S. has already committed to welcoming thousands fleeing the conflict, Markey, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said, “We must go further and raise the refugee cap even higher.” He also said the refugees should remain in the country for as long as they wished.

“I think that’s just a part of who we are as Massachusetts and the United States of America,” he said Saturday morning at a news conference at the JFK Federal Building in Boston.

Earlier this week, he and other members of a congressional delegation visited Poland and Belgium, where they met with American diplomats and troops, and European Union and NATO leaders to discuss possible responses to Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Others on the trip included Sens. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Rep. Mondaire Jones, D-N.Y. They were the latest group of lawmakers to visit Europe since the war started in February. 

Since then, at least 15,000 Ukrainian refugees have arrived in the U.S., mostly through Mexico. It’s not clear how many will eventually come to Massachusetts. But Gov. Charlie Baker has said the commonwealth would welcome them. Local organizations have been preparing to help families resettle.

Poland’s geographic proximity to Ukraine has made it a key part of the international response to the war, which has stretched past 50 days. A number of nonprofit groups have helped feed and house Ukrainian refugees. 

President Joe Biden, during a trip to Poland last month, committed to taking in 100,000 Ukrainian refugees. Biden also, in a speech in Warsaw, said that Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power,” a statement the White House later walked back.

Markey said the U.S. and its allies need to continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes until a negotiated end to the war, but in doing so avoid a direct conflict with Russia. 

“We have to ensure that the help is there so that the Ukrainians can fight, and simultaneously, that the help is there for refugees leaving Ukraine,” said Markey.

“We cannot afford to have a war in Europe result in Putin having the victory because ultimately there’s other countries that border that could be next,” he added.

In calling for more aid for refugees, Markey recounted visiting the Krakow Jewish Community Center during his trip to Poland, where Ukrainian refugees are receiving support and resources. There, he said he met Holocaust survivor Zofia Radzikowska, a child when she and her mother were saved by Poles during World War II.

When he asked Radzikowska how she could build a life in Krakow, so close to the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp and some of the perpetrators of violence against her community, he said she told him that she has witnessed both the worst and best in humans.

Despite many acts of support for Ukrainians, Americans’ desire to further the country’s involvement in the conflict has waned somewhat, according to a recent poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. 

Thirty-two percent of Americans believe the U.S. should have a major role in the conflict, which is down from 40% in March, according to the poll. On the other hand, the same poll showed that 54% of American think Biden has not been tough enough in his response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The poll’s margin of error is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.