Officials from the US Department of Homeland Security have ordered the suspension of a number of programs that allowed immigrants to temporarily settle in the country, including a key initiative that provides entry for Ukrainians.
This was reported by The New York Times, citing a directive contained in an email sent by a senior official of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services and which the publication obtained, Ukrinform reports.
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It is noted that the directive requires an immediate suspension of final decisions on applications related to these programs while the administration reviews them and decides whether to terminate their operation.
The affected programs also include the Biden-era Uniting for Ukraine initiative, which allowed Ukrainian immigrants to temporarily enter the United States if they had financial sponsors.
According to the government, as of September 2023, more than 150,000 Ukrainians had entered the United States under the program, the NYT writes.
The number of programs that are being suspended is large, the newspaper wrote, noting that the move will block the entry of immigrants who were able to find asylum in the United States due to the unstable situation in their countries.
In addition to citizens of war-torn Ukraine, the closure of the programs will affect immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, and Venezuela, the publication says.
The directive also suspends decisions on applications for a program that allowed families to reunite in the United States and another initiative for minors from Central America who have family members in the United States.
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The decision also indicates that the administration plans to launch a broad crackdown on a wide range of programs that allowed people to temporarily enter the country, writes NYT.
Administration officials said that President Trump believes that many migration programs were not legal.
Donald Trump previously promised to launch the largest deportation operation in American history, which would affect an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants. On his first day in office, he signed executive orders regarding the US southern border and announced the deployment of additional troops to the area, pledging to deport “criminal aliens.”
The White House also suspended the asylum program for those fleeing authoritarian regimes in Central and South America therefore thousands of people found themselves stuck on the Mexican side of the border.
The Trump administration announced the detention and deportation of hundreds of illegal immigrants.
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