CLEVELAND — While President Biden unveils a new plan to ease the process for Ukrainian refugees to enter the United States, here in Northeast Ohio, some have already arrived, and people are lining up to help according to Joe Cimperman with Global Cleveland.
"People that we're seeing here in Northeast Ohio, many of them are settling in Parma because they have relatives, they have cousins, they have aunts and uncles, they have friends," Joe Cimperman, president of Global Cleveland, told 3News. "They're coming as a result of first coming to Mexico, which has a different visa process than we do."
Cimperman has helped settle refugees from all over the world and believes the new rules could be helpful, especially since people are already here.
"I'm guessing about 100 people total," he said. "Don't forget, Ukrainian families have been coming to Ohio as refugees since 2014."
For Cimperman most recently helped resettle refugees from Afghanistan. He believes Biden's program is a start, but still wants to see more done.
"They have to have unrestricted work visas," he stated. "We have to give people the opportunity to work. What we know they're going to be doing, they're going to be earning money for their stay here, they're going to be sending money back home, they're going to be saving money ... because they want to go back."
And in the end, that's one of Cimperman's goals: Help those who want to return go back home.