Donald Trump says he will decide “pretty soon” whether to revoke temporary legal status for some 240,000 Ukrainians who moved to the US following Russia’s invasion. Reuters news agency earlier reported the Trump administration was planning to make the move which could potentially put Ukrainians on a fast-track to deportation.
« We’re not looking to hurt anybody, we’re certainly not looking to hurt them,” the President told reporters in the Oval Office. He confirmed he was “looking” at revoking the Ukrainians’ temporary legal status, adding: « There were some people that think that’s appropriate, and some people don’t, and I’ll be making the decision pretty soon. » Mr Trump added that Ukrainians have “gone through a lot”.
The rollback of protections for Ukrainians would be part of a wider Trump administration effort to strip legal status from more than 1.8 million migrants allowed to enter the US under temporary humanitarian parole programmes introduced by the Biden administration, Reuters reported, citing a senior Trump official and sources.
Revoking the Ukrainians’ status could reportedly happen as soon as next month, with the plans said to have started before Mr Trump’s row with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House.
Before Mr Trump spoke to reporters, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on social media “no decision has been made at this time”.
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