Update: March 6, 2025 (5:57 p.m.): The White House on Thursday dismissed the report claiming that President Donald Trump intends to rescind the legal immigration status of almost 250,000 Ukrainians who have come to the U.S. since the onset of the Russian invasion. The full update can be read here.
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As part of its efforts to unwind the consequences of Biden-era immigration policy, the Trump administration plans to revoke the temporary legal status of around 240,000 Ukrainians who fled the fighting in Eastern Europe.
The move, which could proceed as early as next month, would set the stage for the eventual deportation of the Ukrainian immigrants. Despite the announcement’s timing, the rollback plan was in motion before the recent clash at the White House between President Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The legal status revocation initiative is part of a broad plan from the Trump administration to remove the legal status of over 1.8 million immigrants who crossed into the United States under the Biden administration’s temporary humanitarian parole programs. The plan was announced as part of the President’s January 20 Executive Order that instructed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to cancel all parole programs.
Currently, DHS applies the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) label to countries deemed too dangerous for their residents to return safely. As part of their mandate, the acting DHS secretary can designate a country for the protected status if it is engaged in a war, for example.
Residents from these countries are given special status, allowed to work in the United States, and cannot be deported. Ukraine has been designated for TPS since March 2022.
According to CBS News, a source familiar with the matters says the Trump administration also plans to rescind parole for roughly 530,000 Cubans, Nicaraguans, Venezuelans, and Haitians as early as this month.
Thousands of other immigrants are also at risk of having their temporary status revoked, including more than 70,000 Afghans who escaped their country following Biden’s rushed withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. Many of these individuals sought refuge in the United States for fear of retribution from the Taliban because of the close work they did with the U.S. Armed Forces.