Reuters: Almost 200,000 Ukrainians in the US are at risk of losing their legal status

Tens of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing the war to the United States are in a situation of legal uncertainty while the administration of Donald Trump cannot determine the fate of the humanitarian program. This was reported by the agency Reuters, citing internal US government data.

According to media reports, as of March 31, due to the Trump administration's delays in processing the humanitarian program for Ukrainians launched by the 46th US president Joe Biden almost 200,000 people are at risk of losing their legal status.

The humanitarian program, introduced in April 2022, allowed nearly 260,000 Ukrainians to enter the United States for an initial two-year period.

Reuters told the story of a Ukrainian woman who has been living in legal limbo for six months. She believes she can hold out for another six months, waiting for the Trump administration to decide the fate of a humanitarian program that has allowed thousands of people to live and work in the United States.

When her legal status expired in May, the 35-year-old Ukrainian automatically faced deportation. She lost her work permit and was forced to quit her job as a manager at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, where she earned more than $50,000 a year. She also lost her health insurance and can no longer send money to her mother, who lives in Germany as a refugee, the journalists noted.

The woman said she had no idea when her authorization to stay in the United States would be renewed, or if it would happen at all. While she waits for an update on her application, she could potentially be arrested by federal immigration officials, according to three former immigration officials.

Reuters journalists spoke to two dozen Ukrainians who had lost their work permits due to delays in renewal. Among them were technical specialists, a kindergarten teacher, a financial consultant, an interior designer, and a college student. They described how they had to spend their savings, seek support in the community, and go into debt to feed themselves while they waited for a decision on their status.

Some of the people interviewed by Reuters said they feared arrest by U.S. immigration authorities. Others said they were staying home or had left the United States for Canada, Europe and South America.

The Trump administration suspended processing of applications and renewal of Ukrainian humanitarian programs in January, citing security concerns. After an argument in the Oval Office with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump said in March that he was weighing whether to completely revoke the legal status of Ukrainians.

In the end, the US president did not end the program, and in May a federal judge ordered officials to resume processing renewal applications.

But since then, immigration officials have processed only 1,900 renewal applications for Ukrainians and other nationalities, only a fraction of those whose status is expiring, according to U.S. government data released last week as part of a lawsuit.

According to Anne Smith, executive director and regulatory counsel for the Immigration Working Group of Ukraine, a legal coalition created to help those who fled the war to the United States, her advocacy network receives several calls a week from Ukrainians who report that immigration authorities are detaining their family members.

She added that Ukrainians have been arrested at construction sites, while delivering food or working as Uber or truck drivers, as well as during wider raids in Chicago and Greater Cleveland.

Reuters noted that some Ukrainians are leaving the United States on their own. Six of the 24 Ukrainians the journalists spoke to left the United States to avoid the risk of being sent to immigration detention or sent to Latin America or Africa.

A 31-year-old software engineer who moved to Brooklyn in September 2023 applied for renewal of his status in March. His application was pending until September. Fearing that he could be barred from entering the United States in the future if he remained without legal status, he attempted to "self-deport" using a government app known as CBP One.

In May, the Trump administration promised a free plane ticket and a $1,000 "departure bonus" for those who use the app. The man decided to go to Argentina, which has a lower cost of living than other countries and offers a humanitarian program for Ukrainians. However, he was denied compensation for his ticket because he was not traveling to Ukraine.

• On July 29, Trump said that Ukrainians seeking safe haven may be allowed to stay in the United States until the end of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine.
• In August, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that deportation of Ukrainian citizens to their homeland by publishing the relevant photos. Subsequently, the State Border Guard Service reported that they did not record a massive return of Ukrainians from the United States.
• On November 18, it was reported that to Ukraine in transit 50 citizens who had been deported from the United States returned through Poland.