Ukrainians who fled to the US after the Russian invasion face deportation due to the US president's plans Donald Trump aimed at canceling their legal status, according to a report in The Telegraph newspaper.
According to sources, the US president is proposing to accelerate the expulsion of 240 Ukrainians displaced by the conflict as early as April, the report said.
This measure would constitute an exceptional turnaround compared to the reception given to Ukrainians under the administration of Joe Biden, the former president, amid deteriorating relations between the Trump administration and kyiv.
A senior Trump administration official and three informed sources said the planned removal of protections for Ukrainians was underway before the tense exchange between Trump and the Ukrainian president. Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office last week.
The sources say it is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to strip the legal status of more than 1,8 million migrants who were allowed to enter the United States under temporary humanitarian assistance programs established under the Biden administration.
The move comes after the White House cut off all U.S. military aid and suspended intelligence sharing with war-torn Ukraine in an effort to force kyiv to negotiate.
An executive order signed by Trump on January 20 directed the Department of Homeland Security to “terminate all conditional admission programs.”
Under U.S. immigration law, "conditional admission" is granted to certain noncitizens to allow them to enter or remain temporarily in the United States for various reasons.
However, the Trump administration plans to revoke that status for about 530 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans as early as this month, the sources said.
According to an internal email from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, migrants denied this status could face expedited deportation proceedings.
Biden's programs were part of a broader effort to establish temporary legal pathways to deter illegal immigration and provide humanitarian aid.
During his campaign, Trump had promised to end Biden's programs, saying they exceeded the limits of American law.
Last month, the Trump administration suspended processing of immigration applications from people who entered the United States under programs introduced by Biden.
For her part, Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said the department had no comment on the matter at this time.
