Trump is considering canceling the protected status of Ukrainians

President Trump said Thursday he’s looking at whether to revoke temporary protections for thousands of Ukrainians in the United States who fled that country’s war with Russia, but that no final decision has been made.

“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.”

Trump added that Ukrainians had “gone through a lot.”

Reuters reported earlier Thursday that the Trump administration planned to revoke protections for roughly 240,000 Ukrainians who had fled to the United States following Russia’s 2022 invasion. The move would lay the groundwork for those individuals to be deported.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back on the report at the time, saying no decision had been made.

The Biden administration first announced it would allow Ukrainians into the country though Uniting for Ukraine, paroling migrants into the country for two years so long as they were able to secure a U.S.-based sponsor. 

The Biden administration also announced in January before leaving office that it was extending temporary protected status (TPS) for Ukrainians until October 2026, “due to armed conflict and extraordinary and temporary conditions in Ukraine that prevent individuals from safely returning.”

The revocation of TPS for Ukrainians would be in line with the Trump administration’s broader approach to cracking down on legal pathways to enter the United States amid a widespread crackdown on immigration.

The Trump administration has similarly targeted parole programs that allowed citizens of Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela into the country.

And Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in January suspended TPS protections to roughly 600,000 Venezuelans living in the U.S. before taking a similar move for some 520,000 Haitians.

Trump has issued a flurry of executive actions suspending the refugee program and targeting other legal pathways that allow migrants to enter or remain in the country. 

Those actions have sparked numerous suits, including challenges to the pause in refugee admissions as well as the recission of TPS for Venezuelans.

Updated at 6:49 p.m. EST