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The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is planning to revoke the temporary legal status of approximately 240,000 Ukrainians who fled the Russian conflict, potentially fast-tracking their deportation. This move, expected to take place as early as April, marks a stark reversal of the welcoming stance taken by President Joe Biden’s administration toward Ukrainians.
The rollback of protections for Ukrainians was already in motion before Trump publicly clashed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy last week. It is part of a broader Trump administration effort to rescind legal status for over 1.8 million migrants who entered the U.S. under temporary humanitarian parole programs initiated under the Biden administration, sources reveal.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Tricia McLaughlin, said there were no official announcements at this time. Neither the White House nor the Ukrainian embassy responded to requests for comment.
Trump’s executive order issued on January 20 instructed DHS to “terminate all categorical parole programs.”
The administration plans to revoke parole status for around 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans as soon as this month, according to sources familiar with the matter. The first report of the plan to end parole for these nationalities was made by CBS News.
Migrants who lose their parole status could face fast-tracked deportation proceedings, as indicated in an internal email from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) seen by Reuters.
While immigrants who illegally cross the border are subject to expedited removal for two years, those who entered the U.S. legally but without formal “admission,” such as parolees, have no time limit on their fast-track removal.
The Biden administration’s programs were part of a larger initiative to create temporary legal pathways that would discourage illegal immigration and offer humanitarian relief. These programs provided legal status for over 240,000 Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s invasion, 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, more than 70,000 Afghans escaping the Taliban, and an additional 1 million migrants who scheduled legal border crossings via the CBP One app. Smaller programs also granted parole to certain Latin American and Caribbean nationals for family reunification.
As a candidate, Trump promised to end the Biden programs, arguing they exceeded the legal bounds of U.S. law.
In February, the Trump administration paused processing immigration-related applications for individuals who entered the U.S. under certain Biden parole programs.