(Washington, DC) – U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem yesterday seeking answers following reports that Ukrainians on humanitarian parole in the United States had received threatening emails from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that their humanitarian parole status had been terminated and that they had seven days to depart the country.  

The Senators wrote, in part: “Even if this message was sent in error, threatening the abrupt termination of humanitarian parole for Ukrainians is alarming and adverse to the U.S. national interest. At a time when a Kremlin official was in the United States negotiating with Administration officials, this mixed message sends the wrong signal: that the U.S. may abandon Ukrainians in need even as Ukraine remains under attack by Vladimir Putin.” 

They continued: “The fact that DHS drafted such a notification is alarming. DHS has not issued a public announcement about any planned policy change and the agency’s website continues to display information about the availability of parole for Ukrainians. Nor has Congress been notified regarding any proposed changes to the program.” 

The lawmakers concluded: “We urge the agency to provide immediate clarification to Ukrainians in the United States that their humanitarian parole has not been terminated, and that there are no plans to terminate the program while Ukraine is still under active attack by Russia. We also request a briefing on any future plans regarding humanitarian parole for Ukrainians and an immediate explanation as to how these emails were sent in error.” 

The full text of the letter can be found here and below.