After blocking U.S. military aid and intel to Ukraine, President Donald Trump’s administration is preparing to revoke the temporary legal status of approximately 240,000 Ukrainians who fled the conflict with Russia, a move that could rapidly expedite their deportation, according to a senior Trump official and three sources familiar with the matter.
The move, expected as soon as April, would be a stunning reversal of the welcome Ukrainians received under President Joe Biden’s administration.
The planned rollback of protections for Ukrainians was underway before Trump publicly feuded with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week.
Crackdown On Migrants
It is part of a broader Trump administration effort to strip legal status from more than 1.8 million migrants allowed to enter the U.S. under temporary humanitarian parole programmes launched under the Biden administration, the sources said.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back on the Reuters report in a post on X, saying “no decision has been made at this time.” U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said on Wednesday that the department had no new announcements. Ukrainian government agencies did not respond to requests for comment.
A Trump executive order issued on January 20 called for DHS to “terminate all categorical parole programs.”
Parole Revocation For Migrants
The administration plans to revoke parole for about 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans as soon as this month, the Trump official and one of the sources familiar with the matter said, requesting anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
The plan to revoke parole for those nationalities was first reported by CBS News.
Migrants stripped of their parole status could face fast-track deportation proceedings, according to an internal ICE email seen by Reuters.
Immigrants who cross the border illegally can be put into the fast-track deportation process known as expedited removal, for two years after they enter. But for those who entered through legal ports of entry without being officially “admitted” to the U.S. – as with those on parole – there is no time limit on their rapid removal, the email said.
Biden Programmes
The Biden programmes were part of a broader effort to create temporary legal pathways to deter illegal immigration and provide humanitarian relief.
In addition to the 240,000 Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion, and the 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans, these programs covered more than 70,000 Afghans escaping the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
An additional 1 million migrants scheduled a time to cross at a legal border crossing via an app known as CBP One.
Thousands more had access to smaller programmes, including family reunification parole for certain people in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Trump as a candidate pledged to end the Biden programmes, saying they went beyond the bounds of U.S. law.
Immigration Processing Paused
The Trump administration last month paused processing immigration-related applications for people who entered the U.S. under certain Biden parole programmes – placing Ukrainian Liana Avetisian, her husband and her 14-year-old daughter, in limbo.
Avetisian, who worked in real estate in Ukraine, now assembles windows while her husband works construction.
The family fled Kyiv in May 2023, eventually buying a house in the small city of DeWitt, Iowa. Their parole and work permits expire in May. They say they spent about $4,000 in filing fees to renew their parole and to try to apply for another program known as Temporary Protected Status.
Avetisian has started getting headaches as she worries about their situation, she said.
“We don’t know what to do,” she said.
(With inputs from Reuters)
