The Donald Trump administration plans to deport dozens of Ukrainians from the United States without the possibility of appealing the decision. Among them are emigrants who left for America during the Soviet Union.
The Washington Post writes about this.
Journalists spoke with lawyers for 41-year-old Roman Surovtsev, a Ukrainian citizen who is scheduled to be deported on November 17. They said that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement could deport a "significant number" of Ukrainian citizens.
According to them, many detainees are being told that they will be taken on flights to Ukraine or Poland on November 17 without the opportunity to appeal the decision.
WP also cites the example of Andriy Bernik. He came to the US during the Soviet era — in 1990 as a Jewish refugee. Later, he tried to get a Ukrainian passport, but to no avail. On November 17, he will also be sent to Poland, and then transferred to Ukraine.
Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States Olha Stefanishyna stated that the embassy is aware of about 80 Ukrainian citizens who have been issued final deportation orders for violating US law.
WP writes that, on the condition of anonymity, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said: "The US can deport as many Ukrainians as it wants."
Trumpʼs immigration policy
During the election campaign, Trump said he wanted to deport "millions" of migrants, while Vice President J.D. Vance said he could start with one million.
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 in the United States illegally 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, that is, with Mexico, to "illegal immigrants" 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.
- In May, the WP reported that the Trump administration could use $250 million from the foreign aid budget to launch a program of “voluntary deportation” of migrants. In particular, this could apply to 200 000 Ukrainians.
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