120,000 Ukrainians in US at risk of deportation as Biden-era program lapses, WSJ reports
Around 120,000 Ukrainian refugees living in the U.S. will start losing their legal status on Aug. 15 as the Trump administration is letting their protection program lapse, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported.
The issue concerns refugees who have lived in the country since Aug. 16, 2023, under the Uniting for Ukraine program, devised by the Biden administration to allow Ukrainians to stay in the country on humanitarian parole.
Under this program, Ukrainians staying in the U.S. were given a two-year renewable legal status, allowing them to work and receive health insurance, provided they find a U.S. sponsor.
U.S. President Donald Trump suspended the program in January as part of a broader push to tighten immigration policy.
While Trump signaled in July that Ukrainians who fled Russia's invasion would be allowed to stay in the U.S. until the war ends, his administration is letting Biden's program lapse, exposing those covered by the program to potential arrest and deportation, the WSJ reported.
Without government intervention, the refugees will start losing their humanitarian protection on a rolling basis.
Roughly 250,000 Ukrainians came to the U.S. under the program, but those who arrived before Aug. 16, 2023, are covered by a separate protection program.
Over 6 million Ukrainians fled their home country after Russia's full-scale invasion.
