In 2012 a magnitude 7 earthquake hit Haiti. 222,000 people died. Working with the Haitian government, President Obama used the humanitarian parole program to authorize American citizens to adopt orphaned children. In three months more than 1,000 children had been adopted and were living in America. To a child who has lost their parents, their adopted parents will always be heroes. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, President Biden used the humanitarian parole program to allow US citizens to sponsor Ukrainian families to come live and work in the United States. President Biden also created programs that allowed American Citizens to sponsor humanitarian parole families from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. This parole program is often referred to by the initials CHNV. Humanitarian parole, as defined in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), is a discretionary authority granted to the Secretary of Homeland Security to allow individuals to enter the United States, even if they would otherwise be inadmissible. (The Past, Present, and Future of Humanitarian Parole, The University of Chicago Legal Forum https://legal-forum.uchicago.edu) As of December 2024 over 800,000 people from those five countries were living and working in the United States. All have US Citizens as their sponsors. Those sponsors are heroes. President Trump has terminated the program for all five countries and is cancelling the two-year status and the right to work for about 560,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. He is threatening to terminate the parole status and right to work for Ukrainians as well. A total of 750 Ukrainians are in North Dakota under this program. All Parolees entered the United States legally with approved sponsors and legal employers and they have social security numbers and are paying taxes. They have homes or apartments and are paying rent. Sponsors have invested thousands of dollars to get them started here in North Dakota and their children are in school. It will take an act of Congress to stop the President from creating 800,000 homeless people. North Dakota has two United States Senators, John Hoeven and Kevin Cramer, and one Congresswoman, Julie Fedorchak. Those three people working together as a team for North Dakota and other members of Congress, can save 750 Ukrainians. During North Dakota’s first wave of immigration, communities sprung up with the names like Bismarck, New Leipzig, New Salem and Maxbass. Maxbass was named after Max Bass, a recruiter from the United States who brought a German religious group to North Dakota. That group left Germany for religious freedom. Max Bass was their hero. The high school sports teams in Max, North Dakota (not related to Max Bass) are known as the Cossacks, because the settlers were from eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks were known for their fierce independence and military prowess. Hoeven, Cramer, and Fedorchak have an opportunity to be heroes. So do all of us. In the United States there are 240,000 Ukrainians on the humanitarian parole program because of the Russian invasion. They are here, they have sponsors, they have employers, and they have places to live. It would make no sense to terminate their right to work and their right to live in the United States before that war is over and they can safely return home. Our members of Congress represent us as North Dakotans. Help us convince John, Julie, and Kevin to stick up for the Ukrainians we have sponsored who are living and working in North Dakota. It is not everyday you get to be a hero. This is that chance and I hope we take it.
By: Bill Patrie, Published in the Bismarck Tribune- 2025
*Bill serves on the CATCH board of directors. The views and opinions in this article are his and do not necessarily convey the views and opinions of this organization, it board of directors as a whole, or its members.