President Donald Trump has said he will likely allow Ukrainians who have fled the war with Russia to remain in the U.S., ending months of uncertainty over whether they would be forced to leave.
"I think we will, yeah, I do, I think we will," Trump said Tuesday evening from the White House in response to a question by reporters regarding whether he will allow Ukrainians to remain in the U.S. until the war ends.
"We have a lot of people that came in from Ukraine, and we're working with them," he added.
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Concern over the temporary protected status (TPS) afforded to roughly 240,000 Ukrainians who fled the war to the U.S. under the government program known as Uniting for Ukraine (U4U), first implemented in April 2022, has been heightened since the first day that Trump entered office in January when he issued the executive order titled "Securing our Borders."
Eight days later, on Jan. 28, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed that the order had paused the government program, barring additional Ukrainians from entering the U.S. under those protections.
However, even as TPS remained in place for Ukrainians already stateside, concern remained high amid reports in March that the president was considering the removal of this protection status.
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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to the reporting by Reuters and called it "fake news" before adding "no decision has been made at this time."
However, when asked about the reporting later that day, Trump said, "We’re certainly not looking to hurt them.
"And I’m looking at that, and there were some people that think that’s appropriate, and some people don’t, and I’ll be making a decision pretty soon," he added.
Confusion remained after DHS in April reportedly distributed an email to some Ukrainians under the TPS program notifying them that their status had been revoked, and they would need to leave the country within seven days.
DHS later confirmed this was sent in error, but the mistake highlighted the uncertainty that persisted for months.
The latest assurances by Trump come as he has grown increasingly frustrated with Russian President Vladimir Putin's continued attacks on civilian populations in Ukraine despite U.S. attempts to forge a ceasefire.
Trump on Tuesday also announced that Putin has 10 days to enter into some sort of peace deal with Ukraine or face secondary sanctions on its chief commodity – oil.
Neither the White House nor DHS immediately responded to Fox News Digital’s questions regarding the president’s recent announcement, and it remains unclear if the U4U program could also be reopened to other Ukrainian citizens as the war continues.
