Since the beginning of the Russian war on Ukraine, millions of refugees have fled the country to nearby nations, causing the United States to announce the acceptance of up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees.  In the first two weeks of March, only seven refugees have been accepted to the United States. On top of this, the United States is also planning on donating $1 billion to European countries facing crises that have not been seen since the end of World War II.

Almost an entire month after the beginning of the war, President Joe Biden has issued a public statement saying that the United States will welcome refugees as needed. “This is an international responsibility,” Biden said in Brussels, The New York Times reported.

There are three ways that the Ukrainian people will enter the country. They will either go through the traditional refugee settlement program, the humanitarian parole program, or the typical immigration process. With the immigration process, a family member that lives in the United States would apply for a visa for the Ukrainian refugee.

Despite the offer that Biden has given, many Ukrainians are declining, stating that the United States is too far or that the war will only be a short affair. Considering the fact that other countries in Europe are opening their borders to the Ukrainian people, many of them do not wish to go beyond Poland, according to The Washington Post.

While Ukrainians are declining Biden’s offer to find refuge in the United States, the offer has taken some pressure off of European nations. Dwight Hahn, professor of Political Science at John Carroll , states, “100,000 is really not that large of a number, given that 3 to 4 million or more Ukrainians are on their way out. It also depends on how long the war will go. The United States is actually fortunate to be a magnet for immigrants and that we should not only be open to accepting Ukrainian immigrants, but we should be open to accepting immigrants from Central America and other countries as well, because the immigrant growth contributes to the economic growth of this country.”