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The Trump administration is planning to roll back temporary legal protections for some 240,000 Ukrainian refugees, leaving them vulnerable to fast-track deportation, Reuters reported.
The move to revoke the temporary resident status of the Ukrainians who fled to the US following Russia’s full-scale invasion could be expected as soon as April, the outlet reported.
It comes amid a broader Trump administration crackdown which could see more than 1.8 million migrants allowed to enter the US on temporary humanitarian parole programs during the Biden administration lose their legal protections.
The US Department of Homeland Security declined to confirm the report to the news agency.
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The move to revoke legal status for hundreds of thousands of refugees would mark a “stunning reversal” of Biden’s open-armed approach to Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion, Reuters reported, coming on the heels of Washington’s moves this week to halt all military aid for Ukraine and pause intelligence sharing.
Plans to remove the temporary legal status for Ukrainians were reportedly underway before Friday’s Oval Office clash between Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Reuters reported.
Trump vowed to end temporary parole programs in an executive order on his first day in office, putting over 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans who entered the US legally at risk of deportation, as well as more than 70,000 Afghans who fled the Taliban.
European leaders have reportedly been preparing for a fresh wave of Ukrainians seeking refuge within EU borders as Trump threatens to pull all US support for Kyiv.