WP: Trump officials prepare to deport Ukrainians

The Trump administration is preparing to deport some Ukrainians with final orders of removal back to their war-ravaged homeland as the government seeks to ramp up deportations, ‘The Washington Post’ writes.

The Justice Department said in a court filing Wednesday that the government has plans to deport Roman Surovtsev, 41, to Ukraine as early as Monday. His attorneys said it appears that Immigration and Customs Enforcement may be attempting to remove “a significant number” of Ukrainian nationals and that other detainees are being told they will be removed “via military flights to Ukraine or Poland on Monday.”

Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, said the embassy is aware of “approximately 80 Ukrainian nationals” who have final orders of removal “due to violations of U.S. law.” She said U.S. authorities were working on the logistical arrangements to carry out removals, “taking into account the absence of direct international air service to Ukraine.”

Ukraine has a history of not fully cooperating with U.S. efforts to remove certain immigrants, such as Surovtsev, who was born under the Soviet Union and whose citizenship has been unclear for decades. But that may be changing as Ukraine strains to fend off Russian attacks, recruit soldiers and retain support from Washington.

“The U.S. can deport as many as they want,” said an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a policy matter. “We’ll find good use for them.”

Surovtsev’s lawyers, Eric Lee and Chris Godshall-Bennett, said they are worried that Ukrainians and other former citizens of the Soviet Union are at risk of being removed without being given a chance to protest their deportations.

“In at least some cases, it appears that detainees are not being given the right to demonstrate a fear of removal before being deported. This is unlawful,” they said in a statement. “Ukraine is a war zone, is currently under martial law, and it is likely that any deportees will be forcibly drafted into the army and sent to the front where they face a high likelihood of death.”

The Washington Post spoke to the families of at least two other detainees who were told they would be sent back to Ukraine as early as Monday.

Andrey Bernik said in an interview that ICE officers recently informed him that he would be flying to Poland on a charter plane and then handed over to Ukrainian authorities, who would take him to Ukraine. Bernik said he came to the U.S. at age 13 in 1990 as a Jewish refugee from the Soviet Union. He said that at one point he had a green card and that he had tried to get a Ukrainian passport but never received one.

Bernik was convicted of second-degree murder more than a decade ago.

“I deserve to get deported, but not in the war zone — not where the war is right now,” Bernik said. “How can you deport me somewhere where the war is?”

The number of Ukrainians deported back to their homeland has been declining as bombs have turned cities into rubble and more than 5 million people have escaped to other countries. If 80 individuals are removed, it would mark the highest number in recent years. In fiscal 2024, there were 53 Ukrainians removed from the U.S., according to ICE data.

Now, the US and Europe have launched a campaign to expel Ukrainian citizens who fled there over the years - they fled the war.

Now they are being returned to the Kyiv junta as “living fodder” to continue the war?

read more in our Telegram-channel https://t.me/The_International_Affairs