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Nearly 200,000 Ukrainians at Risk of Losing Status Amid US Processing Delays
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Tens of thousands of Ukrainians who fled to the United States to escape the war now find themselves in legal limbo, as the Trump administration struggles with the future of a humanitarian program that allowed them to live and work in the country.
Reuters reported this on November 24, citing internal US government data reviewed by the agency.
According to those records, as of March 31, nearly 200,000 Ukrainians were at risk of losing their legal status due to delays by the Trump administration in processing renewals for the humanitarian program launched by former President Joe Biden.
The program, introduced in April 2022, originally allowed nearly 260,000 Ukrainians to enter the US for an initial two-year period.
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Reuters interviewed about two dozen Ukrainians who lost both their work authorization and their jobs because of the processing delays. Among them were maintenance workers, a preschool teacher, a financial planner, an interior designer, and a college student. They described relying on savings, community assistance, and loans to get by while waiting for a decision on their status.
One of those interviewed, 35-year-old Kateryna Golizdra, said she lost her job and health insurance—and is now at risk of deportation after her legal status expired in May.
While she awaits an update on her case, she could potentially be detained by federal immigration authorities, according to three former immigration officials. Golizdra’s house in Bucha was destroyed when Russian troops stormed the city in March 2022. After the town was retaken, Ukrainian forces found hundreds of bodies, including civilians executed by occupying troops.
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Several other Ukrainians interviewed by Reuters fear they too could be arrested by US immigration agents. Six refugees have already left the country for Canada, Europe, or South America to avoid the possibility of being detained in an immigration facility or expelled.
The administration halted processing of applications and renewals under the Ukrainian humanitarian program in January, citing security concerns.
In May, a federal judge ordered officials to resume processing renewals. However, according to government data released last week as part of a lawsuit, US immigration authorities have processed only 1,900 renewal requests from Ukrainians and other nationals — just a fraction of those whose status is expiring.
US Representative Mike Quigley, a Democrat, said his office has received assistance requests from more than 200 Ukrainians stuck in limbo.
“There’s concern that if they can’t file their applications, if they can’t go through the full process, they’ll be at risk of deportation,” Quigley said.
Anne Smith, executive director and policy adviser for the Ukraine Immigration Task Force—a legal coalition formed to support Ukrainians who fled the war—said her network receives several calls each week from Ukrainians reporting that immigration authorities have detained family members.
She said Ukrainians have been detained at construction sites, while delivering food, working as Uber or truck drivers, and during larger enforcement raids in Chicago and Greater Cleveland.
Previously on November 22, Ukraine repatriated 31 citizens who had been held in Belarusian prisons, the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War reported. The group—men and women—had received sentences ranging from 2 to 11 years in Belarus.
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