A Reuters report suggesting that US President Donald Trump’s administration will revoke the legal status of some 240,000 Ukrainian refugees has been denied. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt branded the story “fake news” but added “no decision has been made at this time” – a troubling caveat for those facing the prospect of deportation.
Initially, the Biden-era Uniting for Ukraine (U4U) program was a humanitarian initiative offering refuge for victims of Russia’s war against Ukraine. According to American Ukrainian demographer Professor Oleh Wolowyna, the majority of these newcomers are Ukrainian rather than Russian-speaking migrants. Younger women outnumber men in most age groups, and this cohort includes many children. Most people have settled in major metropolitan areas, including New York, Chicago, Seattle, Cleveland, and Philadelphia.
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Recent decisions suggest a coordinated effort orchestrated to undermine the status of these U4U parolees. While no official statement explicitly confirms it, the practical consequences of several decisions are undeniable: Ukrainians who believed they had asylum in the US are discovering their status is less certain.
For example, in February 2025, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) paused the processing of key immigration benefits, including Employment Authorization Documents (EADs), leaving many newcomers at risk of losing their jobs, falling into financial distress, and, in some cases, becoming homeless. The justification given by USCIS – potential fraud – lacks transparency and specificity. No substantial evidence of widespread fraud among U4U applicants exists.
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Furthermore, similar programs, such as those provided for Afghan refugees, have not been subjected to this kind of scrutiny. This discrepancy raises concerns about whether Ukrainians have been unfairly targeted. By undercutting legal work opportunities, Washington is making it financially untenable for many who were becoming productive members of American society.
Another alarming development is the mass revocation of travel authorizations for Ukrainians in the final stages of entering the US. Since mid-September 2024, many Ukrainians awaiting processing – some for months – had their approvals rescinded, without warning. They have been left stranded, even after making irreversible life decisions based on an expected relocation to the US. Extending an invitation, only to revoke it arbitrarily, signals the US has become an unreliable partner in the international community. Worse, it disproportionately affects vulnerable individuals left to choose between returning to a war zone or perhaps becoming stateless.
Halting new applications also communicates an unspoken but clear policy shift: the US is no longer prioritizing protection for Ukrainian refugees. This aligns with broader political trends that have become evident over several weeks. Support for Ukraine – financially, militarily and diplomatically – is increasingly contested in US domestic politics, reflecting a deliberate move by the Trump administration away from previous American commitments about standing with Ukraine “for as long as it takes.”
The new administration’s actions are not passive – these are active measures making it more difficult for Ukrainians to remain in the US. Whether due to shifting geopolitical priorities, diplomatic recalculations, or a broader retreat from humanitarian commitments, the reality remains the same: Ukrainian refugees are being squeezed out of America even as Ukraine is betrayed by President Trump and his MAGA confederates.
What began as a promise to help Ukrainians displaced by Russia’s imperial project has been broken. If tens of thousands of Ukrainian migrants in the US are forced to leave, where can they go? Not Canada. Not only are Canada’s refugee determination and immigration policies backlogged and overly bureaucratic, but almost 300,000 Ukrainians have already found shelter under the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET) program.
Could Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offer to shelter them and telegraph President Trump a message about what this “51st state” (sic!) stands for? Possibly. But, given Canada’s lame-duck government and a looming federal election, it’s unlikely Ottawa will do much to help. So, while welcoming Ukrainians unjustly expelled from the US would be the right thing to do, we won’t. Being polite Canadians, we’ll at least say we’re sorry.
A Canadian, Bohdan Cherniawski, serves as chief operations officer for the Ukrainian American Freedom Foundation. Dr Lubomyr Luciuk is a retired professor of political geography at the Royal Military College of Canada
The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily of Kyiv Post.
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