DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Downtown Dallas is lit up again tonight in the blue and yellow colors of the Ukrainian flag.

North Texas could soon be offering more than just symbolic gestures of support in the form of new places to live for a significant number of Ukrainian refugees.

A ship carrying thousands of Ukrainians who braved rough seas and freezing cold made it to Romania on March 11. The men, women and children add to the 2.3 million Ukrainians who have already flooded into neighboring Eastern European countries.

University of Texas at Dallas Global Policy Professor Jessi Hanson-Defusco said Texas needs to start preparing to let some of them in since other states recently absorbed a high number of refugees from Afghanistan.

"How can we not open up our borders? I mean Europe just can't swallow that many, and New York [is] just really at capacity... Texas has a history of taking on so many refugee populations," she said.

Dr. Hanson-Defusco believes the total number of refugees from the war will eventually reach 10 million.

As combat zones widen, more Ukrainian cities are likely to evacuate, according to the professor. She said North Texas should look at it as an opportunity. "The human capital that we could get from inviting them just to be a part of our already growing economy would be beautiful."

She said it will be up to the Biden administration and homeland security, but believes Ukrainian immigrants could start arriving as soon as April.