The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) published official footage showing the deportation of Ukrainian citizens, which caused a wave of reactions and questions about the fate of thousands of refugees who sought asylum in the United States. The photos, shared on the social network X, were accompanied by a brief but eloquent message from the agency's official account:
These are photos of Ukrainian immigrants, taken in the first minutes of their return to their homeland after expulsion from the US.
This move by the US authorities comes against the backdrop of earlier information about a review of humanitarian policy towards Ukrainian refugees. In August, The Wall Street Journal reported that around 120,000 Ukrainians who arrived in the US in the last two years are facing a gradual withdrawal of their humanitarian protection. According to the publication, the measure affects mostly people who entered the country under the "Unity for Ukraine" program.
The "Unity for Ukraine" Program
The "Unity for Ukraine" program was launched on April 21, 2022, as a key initiative of the Joe Biden administration. It was part of the broad commitments of the US to provide asylum for Ukrainian citizens fleeing Russia's aggression. Through it, Ukrainians and their families were given the opportunity to enter the US for a period of up to two years, provided they had a US sponsor to guarantee their financial support for the entire period of their stay. The term of this program, however, has begun to expire, which raises questions about the future of thousands of people who find themselves between a foreign country and a homeland torn by military conflict.
At the same time, Donald Trump's return to the White House immediately after his election victory led to a number of immediate changes in the country's immigration policy. Trump signed a series of executive orders aimed at tightening measures for controlling illegal migration. According to him, many of the existing programs in this area were
illegal from the very beginning.As a result, as reported by The New York Times, the US Department of Homeland Security has issued an order that has suspended access to the country for migrants, and this includes Ukrainian citizens who were trying to enter through the border.
The growing uncertainty in the US is seen as an additional factor that could influence the decisions of Ukrainian refugees. Meanwhile, parallel to the development of the situation in America, it is reported that a large part of the Ukrainians who found refuge in Poland will likely prefer to remain there, even in the event of a possible agreement to cease fire with Moscow. According to data from the international rating agency Fitch Ratings, cited by Reuters and distributed by the Ukrinform agency, the reason for this is their successful integration into the Polish labor market. This trend highlights the different dynamics of refugee flows in Europe and America and calls into question the possibility of a quick return of Ukrainians while the future of their country remains unclear.