The U.S. Department of Homeland Security suspended a number of programs that allowed immigrants to temporarily settle in the country, including an initiative for Ukrainians, the New York Times (NYT) reported on Jan. 24.
U.S. President Donald Trump previously pledged to impose harsher legislation on migrants and launch the "largest deportation program in U.S. history," aimed at removing 15 to 20 million migrants from the country.
The directive, seen by the NYT, calls for an immediate halt to "final decisions" on applications related to these programs while the administration reviews them and decides whether to terminate them.
This decision will block the entry of immigrants fleeing "the most unstable and desperate places in the world," including Ukraine, Cuba, Haiti, and Venezuela, among others, according to the media.
Trump's administration officials also said that Trump believes that many of these programs were "never lawful to begin with."
Among the wide list of suspended programs is Uniting for Ukraine (U4U), a Biden-era initiative that allowed Ukrainian immigrants to temporarily enter the U.S. if they had financial sponsors.
Following the inauguration, Trump signed an order suspending the admission of foreigners who seek to "illegally enter the U.S. via the southern border" with Mexico.
The Trump administration is planning to launch a large-scale immigration raid on major U.S. cities, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Oleg Sukhov
(Updated: )
