Trump Says He’s Considering Revoking Protected Status for Ukrainians in the US

The president said a final decision has yet to be made on the matter affecting 240,000 Ukrainians in the country.

President Donald Trump said on March 6 that he’s considering whether to rescind the temporary protected status for thousands of Ukrainians who fled to the United States during their country’s war with Russia.

Early on that day, Reuters reported that the Trump administration was moving to revoke temporary protected status for roughly 240,000 Ukrainians sheltering in the United States after Russia’s 2022 invasion, which could potentially lead to their deportation. Hours later, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt disputed the report and said a decision had not yet been made.

Trump reiterated that his administration was considering the move.

“We’re not looking to hurt anybody, and we’re certainly not looking to hurt them,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “And I’m looking at that, and there were some people that think that’s appropriate, and some people don’t, and I’ll be making a decision pretty soon.”

The president said Ukrainians had “gone through a lot” since the war began.

In January, the Biden administration said it was extending temporary protected status for Ukrainians until October 2026 “due to armed conflict and extraordinary and temporary conditions in Ukraine that prevent individuals from safely returning.”

President Joe Biden had expanded these kinds of programs to create temporary legal pathways, using them as humanitarian relief.

Trump campaigned on ending these programs, saying they went beyond the scope of U.S. law.

His administration has also pursued other actions limiting temporary legal pathways, including suspending the refugee program and the temporary protected status of roughly 600,000 Venezuelans living in the United States.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who ordered the Venezuelan suspensions on Jan. 28, said the action shows “we were not going to follow through on what [Biden] did to tie our hands, that we are going to follow the process, evaluate all of these individuals that are in our country, including the Venezuelans that are here.”

Trump also signed an executive order on Jan. 20 directing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to “terminate all categorical parole programs that are contrary to the policies of the United States established in my Executive Orders, including the program known as the ‘Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans.’”

Trump’s consideration of revoking Ukrainians’ temporary protected status comes as his administration engages in high-stakes negotiations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a cease-fire plan to end the Russia-Ukraine war.

On March 3, days after Trump and Zelenskyy’s highly publicized clash in the White House, the Trump administration paused all U.S. military aid to Ukraine. Zelenskyy announced hours later that talks between Ukraine and the United States on a mineral rights deal would soon resume.

Jack Phillips contributed to this report.