‘Cruelty is the point’: Trump wants to send 240,000 Ukrainian refugees back to their war-torn home
Aside from embarrassing President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office and cutting off military aid to Ukraine, President Trump is now allegedly eyeing the fate of Ukrainian refugees in the United States.
President Trump had made it clear that Haitians would have their temporary protected status (TPS) revoked during his campaign. He was previously transparent about his mass deportation plans if he was elected while campaigning for re-election. In light of Trump’s disastrous meeting with Zelenskyy at the Oval Office, Ukrainians with TPS are now reportedly at risk of losing their protections.
According to Reuters, the Trump administration plans to roll back on the TPS of 240,000 Ukrainians in the United States. This puts Ukrainian refugees in the clutches of Trump’s ongoing mass deportation crackdowns. Former President Joe Biden afforded protections for Ukrainian refugees during his term. Former Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas extended Ukrainian TPS from April 20, 2025, through October 19, 2026, due to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Nevertheless, a Trump official justified the move as a part of the president’s overarching immigration plan. It wouldn’t just be Ukrainians losing their TPS under the Trump administration. Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans would be impacted, too. These migrants legally entered the United States—they followed legal procedures to be able to stay.
Who needs enemies when you have friends like Trump?
It’s as if the legal formalities don’t hold weight. If the president decides to revoke these migrants’ permissions to reside in the United States, they may be deported back to war-torn and calamity-stricken countries. Needless to say, social media users were repulsed by the possibility of Trump deporting Ukrainians into warzones. One X user wrote, “Trump is forcing 240,000 Ukrainians to return home to an active war zone.”
Another X user tweeted, “The cruelty is the point.” Although there is no official action from Trump to rid the TPS for Ukrainians and the other nationalities above, it’s a possibility that was touted by senior Trump officials.
The president has already halted the flow of weapons to Ukraine. He has even stopped intelligence sharing with the United States’ supposed ally. Russian missiles hit a hotel in Zelenskyy’s hometown today after intelligence assistance stopped. Since American military assistance is paused, Kyiv, and other crucial cities, may be vulnerable to Russian air strikes. All in all, deporting refugees is a line Trump is yet to cross but may be willing to. It wouldn’t be a surprise if he follows through. After all, Trump has been shamelessly cozying up to Russia.
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