Photo: EPA-EFE / STEPHANIE LECOCQ
The United States has indefinitely suspended several immigration programmes created by the Biden administration to expedite migration procedures for foreign nationals, including Ukrainians, on humanitarian grounds, CBS reported on Tuesday citing an internal government memo and anonymous US officials.
While it’s unknown how many migrants will be affected by the application freeze, which will remain in place while “government officials work to identify potential cases of fraud and enhance vetting procedures”, the move is set to affect thousands of migrants who arrived in the US as part of a streamlined procedure aimed at allowing migrants to settle quickly on humanitarian grounds.
Migrants already in the US under the Biden-era programmes and who are currently applying to remain in the country long term are also under threat, CBS reported, having only been issued with temporary work permits upon arrival.
The affected programmes include Uniting for Ukraine, which was set up after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and which has to date enabled up to 240,000 Ukrainians to move to the United States.
The move comes amid rising tensions between the Trump administration and the Ukrainian government, following a series of extraordinary demands and accusations levelled by Trump against Kyiv, including his demand that Ukraine share 50% of revenues from the extraction of its natural resources with Washington.
On Tuesday, Trump also blamed Ukraine for starting the war and demanded that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky call an election as soon as possible despite a constitutional ban on doing so while the country is under martial law.
Zelensky, in turn, has refused to accept the outcomes of the first round of Russia-US talks held without Ukraine’s involvement in Riyadh on Tuesday, stressing that Kyiv would never accept Russian ultimatums.
