ERIE, Mich. — JeanAnn Miller and Kari Mattson say they're fighting to bring their daughters back.
"It just was a no-brainer to me, when she knew something was going on and that she needed to come here, it was, 'yeah of course you can come home.' Because this is home," Miller said.
While not biologically related, the two host mothers say the girls - Anna, 21, and Valeriya, 22 - have become like family to them after their time in the United States and now that both girls are separately in the process of fleeing Ukraine, they are fully prepared to open up their homes again.
"They're just waiting. We were naive, we didn't understand the situation with the visa process," Mattson said. "And our great big intention and heart and abilities here, even though we feel very capable, there's kind of an invisible wall and timeline."
Valeriya and Anna are both currently bouncing between European countries with little more than the clothes on her back, sorting through the legal red tape of getting an American visa as refugees.
So far Anna has been denied a visa and Valeryia won't even be able to make an appointment until May.
Ukrainian-American John Naida had previously met both girls during their time in Michigan and got to know them based on their shared heritage.
After hearing their situation, he's started making calls to local politicians like U.S. Reps. Tim Walberg and Marcy Kaptur, trying to find someone to help.
"Seeing what we can do to make this as public as possible, seeing if we can get our governmental representatives to give us a hand, aid us in any way," Naida said. "I know for a fact they can get into the country. I have no doubt. It's just a matter of how."
Kaptur, a U.S. representative from Ohio, and Walberg, a U.S. representative from Michigan, have been receptive. But they say that there's no pattern to who gets approved or denied and it all comes down to the people inside the visa office.
The host mothers say they're positive they'll find a way to get the girls back to the U.S.
"I'm going to say I'm 100% confident she's going to make it here," Miller said. "Never met a momma bear before."