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US Grants Deportation Reprieve to 100,000 Migrants from Ukraine and Sudan
Confirmed
In Short: The Department of Homeland Security extended temporary protections for migrants from Ukraine and Sudan, allowing them to stay without immediate risk of deportation.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Monday that more than 100,000 migrants from Ukraine and Sudan can remain in the United States without immediate deportation risk, following the expiration of their temporary protections.
Yuriy Boyechko, CEO of Hope For Ukraine, described the government’s decision as a 'last-minute patch' that does not address the underlying issues.
Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Global Refuge, noted that both Ukraine and Sudan are unsafe and meet the legal conditions for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) extension.
Advocates like Myal Greene, president and CEO of World Relief, expressed gratitude for the extension but emphasized its temporary nature.
The DHS statement indicated that Ukrainians and Sudanese in the U.S. covered by TPS 'retain protection' until further notice.
The Trump administration previously sought to terminate TPS for more than 1 million people from 13 countries, including Venezuela, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, and Syria.
The down-to-the-wire announcement for Ukraine and Sudan mirrors a similar situation last month when protections for Salvadorans were extended.
The DHS emphasized that final decisions on the fate of the humanitarian immigration programs will be made at an appropriate time.
Until then, the department said in a written statement, Ukrainians and Sudanese in the U.S. covered by those temporary measures “retain protection.”
The TPS program for Sudan has been in place since the late 1990s, with different administrations extending the policy due to ongoing armed conflict and political turmoil.
As of March 2025, roughly 1,800 Sudanese nationals had TPS, while about 101,000 Ukrainians gained safety in the U.S. after the Russian invasion.
Andre Krug, president and CEO of the KleinLife social services agency, emphasized the importance of these protections, noting that these individuals are neighbors, employees, parents, and children.
What this adds
The announcement underscores the ongoing instability in Ukraine and Sudan, necessitating continued protections for migrants.
What's confirmed
- MIAMI: More than 100,000 people from Ukraine and Sudan can stay in the United States without immediate risk of deportation, the Department of Homeland Security said, in what amounts to a temporary reprieve after their right to stay in the country was set to expire Monday.
- Yuriy Boyechko, CEO of Hope For Ukraine, a nonprofit that provides humanitarian aid in Ukraine and helps resettle newcomers in the US, described the government’s announcement as “last-minute patches.” It is a “bandage that has been placed on a wound that does not solve the real issue,” he said.
- “Russia’s war on Ukraine is nearing its fifth year, and Ukrainians are bracing for another winter under drone and missile strikes, driving civilian casualties and devastating critical infrastructure. Sudan remains locked in a brutal civil war marked by famine, widespread human rights abuses and the hallmarks of genocide,” Vignarajah said.
- Advocates are grateful for DHS decision, warn about the war “We’re grateful for an extension, however temporary, for TPS holders from Ukraine and Sudan,” said Myal Greene, president and CEO of World Relief, an organization that has provided humanitarian assistance in both countries.
- He emphasized that they cannot safely return to Ukraine.
- Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Global Refuge, noted Ukraine and Sudan are not safe and meet the legal conditions for TPS to be extended.
- But DHS said an announcement "will be made at the appropriate time." Until then, the department said in a written statement, Ukrainians and Sudanese in the U.S.
- The decision Monday marks another incident where the Trump administration, which has previously sought to end these temporary protections from deportation and send people back to their home countries, has allowed people covered by the temporary status to stay in the country but without giving any guidance as to how long.
- The Trump administration has already terminated TPS for more than 1 million people from 13 countries, including Venezuela, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Afghanistan and Syria.
- Russia exploits and deceives foreign nationals to enlist them in its armed forces and send them to fight in Ukraine, and in many cases these practices amount to human trafficking, the human rights organization Amnesty International said in a report published Sept. 10.
What's still developing
- “If United States will support Putin, I mean, it’s unbelievable. It’s a tragedy." the Ukrainian leader said in an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press."
- President Donald Trump and his allies say, however, that TPS has become a backdoor means of continuous residency, and that “temporary” means what it says and people cannot stay indefinitely.
- "Once victims sign the paperwork, often in a language they do not understand, military commanders restrict their movements, deploy them to the front lines with minimal preparation, and threaten those who seek a way out," the report stated.
- I have spent the past year and a half studying Russia’s treatment of Ukrainian children for my forthcoming book, “Child Abduction in the War in Ukraine: Erasing Ukrainian Identity as a Tool of War,” to be published open-access by Routledge in late fall 2026.
- Last year, she said she had an "open channel of communication" with Putin after he responded to her letter of concern about the child victims of the Russia-Ukraine war.