Russia's unprovoked invasion has displaced some 2 million Ukrainians in less than two weeks, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, making it "the fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II." At our best, Americans and especially Californians take pride in our capacity to welcome the world's huddled masses. But that capacity isn't what it used to be.
President Joe Biden's administration last week answered calls to extend temporary protected status to Ukrainians who came to the United States before March 1, which is expected to help about 34,000 immigrants from the besieged country who would otherwise be vulnerable to deportation. According to one estimate, nearly a tenth of them are in California, which is home to an outsize share of the Ukrainian diaspora.
In the course of announcing a ban on Russian oil imports Tuesday, the president also rightly recommitted to sharing the cost of the refugee crisis with our European allies. His administration has asked Congress for $6.4 billion in new spending to address the war, including $2.9 billion in security and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine and its neighbors.
These sensible and humane steps don't address the needs of those who may yet arrive. U.S. refugee resettlement is still reeling from the Trump administration's reduction of maximum admissions to 15,000 a year, a historic low. Biden was slow to follow through on a promise to raise the limit but ultimately did so under pressure, raising the cap to 62,500 last fiscal year and doubling it to 125,000 for the current one, which began in October. The decimated resettlement system nevertheless struggled to handle more refugees, ultimately processing under 12,000 through September, even fewer than Trump's stingy limit allowed. Biden has also maintained an anti-immigrant Trump administration policy prohibiting most asylum seekers from entering the country on the pretext that they might contribute to the spread of the coronavirus.
Even under this year's dramatically increased ceiling, only 10,000 refugees are allowed from Europe into the United States. By comparison, Poland alone has already taken in more than a million refugees from its neighbor Ukraine, according to the United Nations, while Moldova, Romania, Hungary, and Slovakia have each admitted well over 100,000. Given that Biden is trying to rally Europe and the world in supporting Ukraine, his administration should signal that the United States is ready to do its part for the country's displaced, a cause with properly broad support among Americans.
If and when greater numbers arrive, however, Ukrainian refugees face another obstacle to resettlement in California in particular: a distinct lack of places to settle.
Sacramento County is home to about 15,000 Ukrainian immigrants, more than all but three counties nationwide, making it a natural destination for the country's refugees. But it also saw average rent climb nearly 20% last year to more than $2,100 a month, according to one analysis, one of the five greatest increases among the nation's largest metropolitan areas. That hardly positions the region to welcome the tired, poor and tempest-tossed to our shores.
The refugees who fled Afghanistan in the wake of last year's U.S. withdrawal, many of whom headed for Sacramento and other California cities with some of the country's largest Afghan communities, have learned as much. No wonder the State Department advised Afghans to resettle in cities such as Phoenix, Denver, and Jacksonville, Fla., instead. Federal officials noted the "critical shortage of housing availability, both temporary and permanent" in Sacramento and other parts of California, where restrictive zoning and anti-development laws have created one of the worst housing deficits in the country.
The wall-building anti-immigration policies devised by the Trump administration are one way to undo America's ability to welcome the world's less fortunate. California's backward housing policies are another.
