Trump administration preparing to deport some Ukrainians, says WP
Illustrative photo: the US is preparing the deportation of some Ukrainians (Getty Images)
The United States intends to deport around 80 Ukrainians back to their home country. These are individuals who have violated the law, The Washington Post reports.
Rumors about deportation
According to the outlet, the US Department of Justice announced plans to deport 41-year-old Roman Surovtsev to Ukraine as early as Monday, November 17.
Surovtsev’s lawyers, Eric Lee and Chris Godshall-Bennett, believe that immigration and customs enforcement may be preparing to remove "a significant number" of Ukrainians. They say other detained Ukrainians are also being told they will be sent "via military flights to Ukraine or Poland" on November 17. The lawyers clarified that detainees are not being given the right to appeal their deportation.
"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," they added.
It is worth noting that Surovtsev is a convicted criminal — at 18, he committed burglary, and at 19, he and his friends stole a motorcycle. He served more than 11 years in prison in California.
Ukraine’s response
For her part, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, Olha Stefanishyna, said the embassy is aware of "approximately 80 Ukrainian nationals" for whom final deportation orders have been prepared "due to violations of US law."
She said American authorities are working on the logistics of carrying out deportations, "taking into account the absence of direct international air service to Ukraine."
"It should be noted that deportation is a widely used legal mechanism provided for by the immigration laws of most countries around the world. It is a routine procedure applied to all foreign nationals and stateless persons who violate the terms of their stay in the United States, regardless of their nationality," Stefanishyna emphasized.
The Washington Post notes that Ukraine may accept such citizens because it needs to recruit soldiers and maintain US support.
"The US can deport as many as they want. We’ll find good use for them," an unnamed adviser to the President of Ukraine told reporters.
On October 23, it became known that US President Donald Trump ordered the deportation of more than 600,000 illegal migrants by the end of this year.
