The Trump administration is preparing to revoke temporary legal status for about 240,000 Ukrainians who fled the conflict with Russia.
This vital information was made by a senior Trump official and three sources familiar with the matter and the development (expected as early as April), could fast-track their deportation, – vert a stark reversal from the protections offered under Biden’s administration.
President Trump’s Effort to Strip Legal Status from Migrants
The planned revoking of protections for Ukrainians is part of a larger Trump administration initiative to end legal status from over 1.8 million migrants who entered the U.S. under temporary humanitarian parole programs established during the Biden administration.
This includes approximately 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, whose parole status could be revoked as soon as this month.
Migrants stripped of their parole status could face expedited removal, a fast-track deportation process.
According to an internal ICE email reviewed by Reuters, there is no time limit on rapid removal for those who entered through legal ports of entry without being officially “admitted” to the U.S., such as parolees.
How Biden’s Administration Humanitarian Programs Are Now Under Threat
The Biden administration’s parole programs were enacted to create temporary legal pathways to bar illegal immigration and provide humanitarian relief. These programs covered the 240,000 Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion, 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, over 70,000 Afghans escaping the Taliban takeover, about 1 million migrants who scheduled border crossings via the CBP One app and thousands more through smaller programs, including family reunification parole.
The Possible Implications for Trump’s New Immigration Policy
As a presidential candidate, Trump promised to dismantle the Biden administration’s parole programs, arguing they exceeded the bounds of U.S. law.
Just last month in February, his administration paused processing immigration-related applications for individuals who entered under certain Biden parole programs, leaving many families in limbo.
And now, with Trump’s decision to revoke parole status for hundreds of thousands of migrants, critics have warned that they could worsen the humanitarian crises and disrupt the lives of vulnerable (and displaced) populations.
