As Americans turn to other Concerns, Support for Ukrainian Refugees Slows

By Jacob Golenia

JRN100 Staff Writer

Ukrainian refugees have struggled to find places to live while fleeing the war, due to the Russians, and proven less support from the United States. According to research by As war in Ukraine continues American’s concerns about it have lessened, not only have the United States started to lose interest in the war, yet in a poll taken, the percent of American adults’ interest and support for the war has dropped from 55% to 38%.

As American interest in Russia’s war against Ukraine wanes, so is the urgency to help Ukrainian refugees, a recent report found.

The issue has not just been our lack of support for Ukraine, yet the lack of support for the refugees that have been coming overseas to the United States. Eva Boguz stated, “Refugees have been coming over at a consistent rate, however, it has become increasingly harder to find homes for these refugees and places for them to stay.”.

Research done by Andy Cerda has shown that U.S lack of interest has been the issue, rather than the lack of support. Research has shown that only 18% of Americans now think the U.S is not showing enough support, compared to the 42% earlier in the year.

Mr. Cerada said, “The major issue is not that we are not doing enough for Ukraine, rather we are starting to focus on other problems that have us distracted from this issue.”. The refugees has taken the largest impact from this as they are now struggling to find places to stay, in hopes of fleeing for a better life.

Andy Cerada stated another issue with the government parties and their different views clashing with together. The Democratic tolls have shown that 52% show fear of the conflict leading to a nuclear war, compared to only 37% of the republican party.

“The parties arguing has been another leading issue causing conflicts and disagreements in how we should show our support. With the parties showing fear of nuclear effects, it would make sense for our government to be cautious in what ways we show our support, even if it seems a little outlandish.”, said Mr. Cerada.

This Nuclear issue has grown in recent months with the war slowly creeping toward a nuclear power plant located in Ukraine. This has been kept on high alert by top officials to track where this war is traveling to.

This problem causes roadblocks in which ways the United States are able to show their support, however it does not affect the support they can show for the refugees that are here, which is the issue.

Mrs. Boguz said, “It is sad to see less and less support for an issue that has not been resolved for months now, and in some cases has only gotten worse.”. These refugees have had and even harder time finding jobs and places to be able to make a living over in the United States.

Start up programs have been the leading way of support for these refugees after recent events.

Programs have started to open up across the United States for refugees from countries in the Middle East, Asia, and from the war in Ukraine. Ewa mentioned a program that has just opened in Alaska that is now housing refugees while also providing them with jobs to help them get back on their feet and start a life here.

The only issue this presents is there are not enough of these open yet, which may cause fake hope for these refugees. “Some refugees that have come here have told us how excited they were to be able to start their dream lives and the opportunities presented here, based off of stories they have heard. It is sad to hear as some have not heard both sides of the story and what life can really be like over here.”, said Eva Boguz.

This false hope is causing refugees to think that opportunities are plentiful when the truth is the complete opposite. Mr. Cerada stated in his research that a lot of refugees and immigrants in past history have had this happen whereas they hear great stories about the dream life in the United States and get here struggling to even start their lives.

Americans interest in the war in general has dropped down from 36% to barely a quarter. This has made it much harder for Americans to show support for refugees when they themselves are not following the war.

“If Americans are not interested in something, why should they have a reason to show support for that something. It is the sad truth that could be starting to develop here.”, said Andy Cerada.

Based off of these studies, if American care and attention towards the war in Ukraine continues to decrease at the rate we have seen, then more refugees will have less places to go.

“This realistically could be solved very quickly if we showed all of our attention and support to this one cause, yet with all of these other news breaking problems and stories, it is hard for Americans to stay up to date with the issues in Ukraine.”, said Mr. Cerada.

With more and more programs and centers opening up as the months continue, there is hope the issue can progressively get better. With American’s support starting to attach to other issues within the United States, it is important the war in Ukraine does not get forgotten about.