In a letter penned to President Joe Biden this week, Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh and Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon offered the region as a community, "ready, willing, and able” to host refugees from Ukraine.
In a letter to President Biden, Mayor Walsh and @CEJRyanMcMahon offered the City of Syracuse and @OnondagaCounty as a community that stands ready, willing and able to welcome Ukrainian refugees to CNY. https://t.co/sdyaNmrFG9 pic.twitter.com/i8vIjgsfvQ
— syracuse1848 (@Syracuse1848) March 3, 2022
The letter emphasized Syracuse and Onondaga County’s experience of “serving as a safe haven for refugees from various parts of the world,” and coupled with the large Ukrainian population in the region, Walsh and McMahon feel that Central New York “is an ideal location where Ukrainian citizens can find shelter on a short-term basis until they can return to their homes or settle permanently to be free of unjustified violence and war.”
Walsh and McMahon plan to work with refugee partners Interfaith Works CNYand Catholic Charities of Onondaga County, as well as the New York State government to prepare the community, they said in the message.
“Central New York stands ready as a partner to bring as many of our Ukrainian allies out of harm’s way as possible, welcoming refugees into a diverse and caring community in America," the letter said.