Ukrainians that fled to Metro Detroit to avoid war face an uncertain future

Ukrainians that fled to Metro Detroit to avoid the war face an uncertain future.

“They’re still legal but there is this threat of everything being turned upside down and many of them feel betrayed and uncertain,” Sam Rozenberg with Share Ukraine said.

Tetiana Yarynych came to the U.S. with her kids in July 2022 under a Biden-era program called Uniting for Ukraine. She lives in Hamtramck with her husband and three young children.

She said at first it wasn’t easy, but over time it began to feel like home.

“Step by step we found a new life here,” Yarynych said.

Part of that life included employment.

Yarynych’s husband works in construction.

According to Michael Kernen with Amplitude HR in Troy, thousands of Ukrainians make up an important part of the Metro Detroit workforce.

He said his firm alone has placed more than 500 Ukrainians in mostly manufacturing jobs over the past few years.

“We have employers with hundreds of Ukrainian workers,” Kernen said. “Tier 1 and tier 2 automotive suppliers that could potentially lose entire shifts of people.”

It’s unclear what the Trump administration will make of the programs that allow Ukrainians to live and work here.

“Sometimes the uncertainty is the most difficult thing. Some of them deal with uncertainty by just going back and some of them are fighting it.” Rozenberg said.

While some families are eager to go back to Ukraine once it is safe, others like the Yarynych would like to stay in Metro Detroit.

“Maybe start looking for a house, you know,” Yarynych said. “And the kids they like the schools, and they found their here in America.”

Earlier this month, Trump’s press secretary called out a news headline that said the president was questioning the legal status of Ukrainians.

In a post on X, the press secretary account wrote the following:

“This is more fake news from Reuters based on anonymous sources who have no idea what they are talking about. The truth: no decision has been made at this time.”