ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- The President Donald Trump administration is set to revoke temporary legal status for approximately 240,000 Ukrainians who fled to the United States due to the war with Russia, a move that could put them on the path to deportation, sources have revealed.
This decision marks a sharp departure from the Biden administration’s more open humanitarian policies.
The revocation, expected to take effect in April, is part of a broader initiative to terminate legal protections granted to over 1.8 million migrants under Biden’s humanitarian parole programmes, according to Reuters.
A January 20 executive order directed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), to dismantle these programmes, affecting 530,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
The change means that many migrants losing parole status could face expedited deportation, as outlined in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) memo.
READ ALSO: Ukraine Peace Talks Are Possible – Putin Tells Trump
Under current policies, individuals who entered the U.S. legally under parole programmes without obtaining formal admission can be removed without restrictions on timing.
Biden’s parole programmes were designed to provide temporary legal pathways and humanitarian relief to Ukrainians, Latin American migrants, 70,000 Afghans, and over a million others who used the CBP One app for entry.
However, Trump had vowed to dismantle these protections, arguing they exceeded legal boundaries.
The policy shift has left many migrants in a state of uncertainty. Liana Avetisian, a Ukrainian who fled Kyiv in 2023 and resettled in Iowa, now faces an uncertain future as her parole and work permit are set to expire in May.
Similarly, Rafi, a former Afghan intelligence officer trained by the U.S., was detained in Virginia after his parole was revoked. Feeling abandoned, he expressed his disappointment, saying, “I wasn’t expecting this behaviour from them.”
ICE has denied a petition for Rafi’s release, stating that the agency’s priorities changed following Trump’s return to office.