The Trump administration is preparing to deport about 80 Ukrainians from the US to war-torn Ukraine as early as this Monday, The Washington Post reports.
According to the publication, the US Justice Department stated in court documents about plans to deport Ukrainians on military flights to Ukraine or Poland. Ambassador of Ukraine to the US Olga Stefanyshyna confirmed that the embassy is aware of "approximately 80 citizens of Ukraine" who have final deportation orders "due to violations of US law".
"The US can deport as many as they want. We will find a good use for them," – said an advisor to President Zelensky, commenting on the situation in a conversation with the publication.
Lawyers for the deportees warn of serious risks for their clients. "Ukraine is a war zone, currently under martial law, and it is likely that any deportees will be forcibly conscripted into the army and sent to the front, where they face a high probability of death," – stated lawyers Eric Lee and Chris Godshall-Bennett.
According to ICE, in fiscal year 2024, only 53 Ukrainians were deported from the US – the number of deportations decreased as the war escalated. If all 80 people are deported, this will be the largest number in recent years.
Among those being prepared for deportation – 41-year-old Roman Surovtsev, who arrived in the US at the age of 4 as a legal immigrant. He is married to a US citizen, has two children aged 5 and 3, and his own business in Dallas. Despite this, he was arrested in August during Trump's mass deportation campaign.
It is also reported about Andrey Bernik, who came to the US at 13 as a Jewish refugee from the Soviet Union in 1990. According to him, ICE officers told him he would fly to Poland on a charter flight and then be handed over to Ukrainian authorities.
"I deserve deportation, but not to a war zone – not to where there is a war right now," – Bernik told the publication.
Ambassador Stefanyshyna called the deportation "a widely used legal mechanism" and "a normal procedure that applies to all foreigners and stateless persons who violate the conditions of their stay in the US, regardless of their citizenship."
A representative of the Department of Homeland Security stated that "due to operational security, ICE does not confirm future deportation operations," but emphasized that all detainees "receive due process."