Senators aren’t ready to see the U.S. abandon Ukrainian refugees, whether or not President Donald Trump is considering revoking their legal status.
“No, I want to keep these people here,” Sen. Lindsey Graham told NOTUS. “We need to have the war come to an end before we talk about sending people back.”
Reuters reported that the Trump administration was planning to revoke the legal immigration status of nearly 240,000 Ukrainian refugees, leaving them at risk for deportation back to an active war zone. The White House denied the report, calling it “fake news.”
Trump later said his administration was “not looking to hurt anybody” and that it was looking into the issue.
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“There were some people that think that’s appropriate, and some people that don’t,” Trump told reporters.
The Trump administration has already paused humanitarian parole for Ukrainian migrants seeking to come to the United States legally. Hundreds of thousands of migrants from Ukraine and other affected countries have sued to reinstate the program.
Republican senators said they didn’t know what further plans the White House has for refugees, but that they support programs which allow Ukrainians into the country.
“In almost every armed conflict, our country has always had a process in place to help those individuals that qualify,” Sen. Mike Rounds said. “Clearly, Ukrainians trying to get away from this Russian aggression should qualify.”
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reports that roughly 6.3 million Ukrainians have fled the country. Poland and Germany are hosting most of the displaced population. Germany alone is home to 1.2 million refugees from the war in Ukraine.
Sen. Thom Tillis said he wanted to examine the specifics of the Trump plan, but was adamant that there must be a safe place for these refugees.
“We got to have a place for them to go, either here, a close, safe country in Europe,” he said. “We gotta provide for them or at least get them to a safe third country, whether or not they have to come here is a legitimate question.”
Sen. Tommy Tuberville said “whatever we need to do” to get the conflict with Russia finished was worth it.
“We’ve got to end the killing,” he said.
Sens. Josh Hawley and Katie Britt were both unaware of possible large-scale deportations by the Trump administration. In April of last year, Britt voted in favor of a large aid package that included refugee support.
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John T. Seward is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.
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