The Trump administration wants to use $250 million from the foreign aid budget to launch a program for “voluntary deportation” of migrants. For this money, migrants who agree to return to their countries are promised travel assistance and a lump sum payment. In particular, this could apply to 200 000 Ukrainians.
The Washington Post reports this, citing an internal document.
Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin confirmed the authenticity of the documents, which were prepared between late April and early May, but described them as “outdated”. Homeland Security Secretary Christy Noem, McLaughlin said, has not yet made a “final” decision on temporary protected status for Haiti or Ukraine.
Documents outlining the idea have already been signed by the US State Department and the Department of Homeland Security, although a formal decision has not yet been made. The plans do not specify nationalities, but mention that they are talking about people who have temporary protection — this status allows them to temporarily stay in the US due to danger in their homeland. For Ukrainians, it was introduced after the start of a full-scale war, and for Haitians — after the 2010 earthquake.
The Biden administration wanted to keep Haitians in the U.S. under temporary protection until 2026, but the Trump team could end it as early as this summer. During his campaign, Trump spoke negatively about Haitians, even repeating a false story that they ate dogs and cats in Ohio.
WP notes that among the migrants who want to be deported are citizens of Ukraine, Haiti, Afghanistan, Palestine, Libya, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. It is expected that Afghan migrants will be the first to fall under the "voluntary return" program — even though the Taliban controls power in their country and returning may be dangerous for them.
The US is promising to pay $1000 to people who agree to return home voluntarily. The authorities want to carry out these deportations directly, bypassing the International Organization for Migration (IOM, an organization affiliated with the UN), which usually helps with the return of migrants home.
Critics of this initiative say that deporting people to dangerous countries violates international law and humanitarian norms, and also distorts the purpose of funds that Congress allocated for refugee assistance, not for their deportation.
Previously, this money went mostly to help refugees settling in the United States, but under Trump, almost all of these programs have been stopped. The exception was the resettlement of about 50 white South Africans, whom he called victims of racial discrimination.
The UN-affiliated migration agency does not support the return of people to any of these locations. The IOM did not respond to a request for comment.
Trumpʼs immigration policy
On the first day of his presidency, Donald Trump signed an executive order prohibiting the issuance of American citizenship documents to children born in the United States to parents who are either illegally in the United States or in situations where the mother is temporarily in the United States, for example, on a visa, and the father is not a citizen.
And the next day, he signed an executive order closing the countryʼs southern border with Mexico to "illegal migrants" and ordering the deportation of those who entered the United States illegally from Mexico.
The United States subsequently suspended a number of programs that allowed immigrants to temporarily settle in the country. In particular, the Uniting for Ukraine program, which allowed Ukrainians to enter. The decision will block the entry of immigrants fleeing some of the most unstable and dangerous places in the world. In addition to Ukraine, the programs offered temporary protection to immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, and Venezuela.
And at the end of March, Trump stripped 530 000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans of their legal status, which allowed them to legally reside in the United States.
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