'Fear, anxiety' for Michigan Ukrainian refugees as Trump considers deportation

• Ukrainians who came to Michigan to escape war face uncertain future amid Trump administration’s changes to immigration policy
• President Donald Trump said he’d be “making the decision pretty soon” on whether to revoke legal status of Ukrainians in US
• Advocates say thousands of Ukrainians live and work in Michigan and have few options if they face deportation  

Thousands of Ukrainians who relocated to Michigan after fleeing from war and violence in their home country are now bracing for the possibility of removal from the United States.

Last week, Reuters reported that President Donald Trump's administration would revoke the legal status of 240,000 Ukrainians currently living in the country under a “humanitarian parole” program. Trump officials disputed the report, but did not rule out the action: Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on social media that “no decision has been made at this time.” 

Advocates in Michigan’s tight-knit Ukrainian community say uncertainty surrounding the new arrivals’ legal statuses has sparked shock and fear for people who, in many cases, don’t have safe homes to return to. 

“We have teachers and children who have had parents killed on the front lines — are you going to send a child back to where her father died?” said Andriy Pereklita of southeast Michigan’s Ukrainian School of Language and Culture.

“Are you going to send our teacher and her family back to Bakhmut?” Pereklita continued, referencing a Ukrainian city at the center of one of the war’s major battles. “Well, Bakhmut doesn’t exist anymore.” 

Michigan is home to an estimated 39,000 Ukrainian-Americans. After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, thousands of Ukrainian nationals were approved to live and work in the state under Biden-era humanitarian parole programs aimed at offering a temporary reprieve from war.

While Trump has questioned US support for Ukraine while demanding a ceasefire with Russia, local advocates have been raising funds, offering legal guidance and rallying in support of Ukraine and Ukrainian nationals in the US.

The president recently told reporters he’d be “making the decision pretty soon” on whether to revoke Ukrainians’ temporary protected status and put them on the fast-track to deportation, acknowledging Ukrainians have “gone through a lot.” 

"We're certainly not looking to hurt them, and I'm looking at that,” Trump said.

Experts told Bridge Michigan that the lack of clarity coupled with major cuts to immigration, refugee and humanitarian aid programs is already making it challenging for Ukrainian nationals to advocate for themselves or make alternative plans.

“This legal limbo is deeply unfortunate…in that field of uncertainty, it becomes very difficult for people to plan their lives and maintain their livelihood,” said Greta Uehling, a University of Michigan professor who has closely studied military conflict and forced displacement in Ukraine. “It’s very destabilizing.”   

An uncertain future

Unlike other refugees, whose status grants them permanent legal residency and a pathway to US citizenship, people covered under humanitarian parole can live and work in the country temporarily, contingent on sponsorship by a US citizen.

Trump and his allies have been critical of humanitarian parole and other opportunities for temporary legal status, arguing that the programs ran afoul of US immigration law and undermined the country’s border security. 

Related:

• MSU apologizes for canceling Chinese student event after Trump order
• Detroit help desk for immigrants facing deportation reopens — for now
• In Detroit, worried immigrants ask: ‘Who will take my kids if I’m deported?’

A Day One executive order issued by Trump ordered the administration to terminate all categorical parole programs “that are contrary to the policies of the United States,” specifically calling out programs benefiting 530,000 migrants nationwide from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. 

It's unclear whether programs benefiting Ukrainians already residing in Michigan and other states fall under that definition, though the signup process was recently closed to new applicants.

The refugee resettlement agency Samaritas estimates at least 5,000 working Ukrainians in Southeast Michigan alone would be affected if the Trump administration revoked their legal status. 

Still more live and work in northern Michigan, an offshoot of another established Ukrainian-American community.

“Ukrainians have come to Michigan for a long time, and they have found a welcoming and accessible community here,” said Julie Powers, executive director of the group Immigration Law and Justice Michigan. 

“These folks have an employer. They're living with family and friends,” she continued. “These folks have been very well received — they’re important parts of the communities.”

While advocates for Ukrainian refugees say many are now reluctant to publicly discuss their plight given their uncertain legal status, a woman who emigrated to Michigan before the ongoing war recently told WXMI-TV she fears for family members who joined her after the Russian invasion. 

"Obviously, I am very scared for my mom and for my brother, and I mean, obviously for… Ukrainians overall," Tetiana Rens told the west Michigan outlet. “It’s really scary, because the war is not over.”

‘It's unconscionable’

Those in Michigan affected by the looming policy shifts are already considering alternatives, including waiting for more clarity from the administration or looking for other countries to take refuge in, observers and advocates told Bridge. 

But as the war rages on in their home country, going back to Ukraine is easier said than done, and a quick resettlement elsewhere would likely have deep implications for their current employers and communities. 

“There's so much fear and anxiety around the uncertainty and instability of what we're living in and what could happen next,” said Kelli Dobner, Samaritas’ chief growth officer. “There's a lot of fear with our employer partners as well, because they don't want to be a target.”

Michigan employers worried about losing workers could move to sponsor their Ukrainian employees, though that process takes time and doesn’t guarantee success, said Elsy Ramos Velasquez, an immigration law attorney at the Clark Hill law firm.

“It takes time to determine if an employee will be eligible for an employment-based sponsorship…it’s not something that can happen within 30 to 60 days,” she said. “We are recommending that review to start now, and not wait until the parole is going to expire.” 

Ukrainian nationals’ legal statuses are not one-size-fits-all, meaning the Trump administration’s impending decisions could affect their future in different ways.

Most Ukrainians who arrived in the US prior to August 2023 have a Temporary Protected Status designation to live and work in the country, which in January was extended by the Biden administration to October 2026. The legal status of newer arrivals under humanitarian parole expires two years after their initial arrival date unless they are granted an extension. 

Pereklita, the language school educator, said the lingering trauma of war coupled with the difficulties of adjusting to life in a new country makes the prospect of starting over anew especially difficult for Michigan’s Ukrainian residents. 

One Ukrainian student he worked with only began to speak up in class and feel accepted in the community after nine months living in Michigan, he told Bridge.

“This is very difficult, and now you're sending them back?” he said. “I think it's unconscionable.”