U.S. temporarily preserves deportation protection for 100,000 Ukrainian refugees

Around 100,000 Ukrainian refugees will for now be able to live and work in the United States without fear of deportation, despite the expiration of their Temporary Protected Status.

This was reported by CBS News, citing data from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Officially, the status for Ukrainians was set to expire on Monday, October 19. However, DHS stated that a final decision “will be made at the appropriate time.” Until such a decision is announced, Ukrainian citizens “retain protection” from deportation under Temporary Protected Status.

Earlier, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, a DHS agency, told TASS that authorities may soon strip Ukrainian refugees of the right to remain in the country. Politico reported that the administration had until October 19 to extend or terminate Temporary Protected Status for approximately 100,000 Ukrainians. According to the outlet, Washington may “allow the status to expire without officially terminating it” — in which case it would automatically be extended for six months.

Politico notes that U.S. authorities previously took the same approach with refugees from El Salvador, who found themselves in a legal “limbo”: they retained the ability to remain in the United States, but it was unclear whether they had the right to work and study in the country. One of Politico’s sources believes the U.S. administration is currently not seeking to “do anything positive for Ukraine.”

The administration of President Donald Trump has called the Temporary Protected Status program an amnesty for illegal immigrants that is renewed too frequently despite its temporary nature. Over the past year and a half, authorities have stripped the status from more than 1 million immigrants from more than a dozen countries, including Afghanistan, Haiti, and Venezuela. In 2025, Trump raised the possibility of “canceling a separate program” for admitting Ukrainian refugees to the United States, but later abandoned that step under pressure from lawmakers.

The Temporary Protected Status program was created by Congress in 1990. It allows the U.S. government to grant a temporary reprieve from deportation, as well as work authorization, to undocumented and legal immigrants from countries experiencing armed conflicts, environmental disasters, or other crises. The program has been in effect for Ukrainians since the spring of 2022.