TRACY, Calif. — Among the millions of people fleeing from Ukraine, a family in Tracy is desperate to bring their loved ones to California.
"They are women and children that need to be safe," said Dominic Biles of his sisters-in-law and two nephews.
His wife, Maryna, is safe in Tracy with her mother.
She grew up in Mykolaiv, Ukraine with her sisters Natasha and Maya, who has two sons — ages 12 and five.
Biles flew to Europe last week to help them get from southern Ukraine to the U.S., but he has only half completed his mission, he says, by bringing them to Germany.
They are among the staggering number of refugees streaming from Ukrainian towns and cities reduced to rubble.
The U.N. estimates that more than 20% of the country's population — almost 10 million people — have now either been displaced from their homes or have left the country altogether.
U.S. immigration officials in Germany have not been helpful, Biles said. So far, the U.S. has only taken in a few hundred Ukrainian refugees.
While Maryna's brother, Nikolai stays behind to fight with the Ukrainian army, Dominic is fighting, too, to keep spirits high amid immigration limbo.
"You know, I can't feel this defeated. I really can't," Biles said. "And I know that if I persevere and I believe that something good will happen, then it will happen."
ABC10 connected Biles with a UC Davis immigration expert to help the family weigh their options.
