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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
As they lose the right to work, Ukrainians who were once welcomed to US
fear they will have to leave
By Jennifer Hansler, CNN
Updated:
7:00 AM EDT, Sat September 6, 2025
Source: CNN
Natalia’s son does not remember Ukraine. He thinks he’s been living
in the United States his entire life.
“He doesn’t understand why he has to leave,” her friend Tatiana
explained.
But unless there is swift action by the Trump administration, Natalia,
Tatiana and their families could be who may have to once again uproot
their lives as their work authorizations and legal status in the US
expire.
CNN is not using the real names of any of the Ukrainians quoted in this
story. They say they fear reprisal.
Natalia, Tatiania and their families came to the US under Uniting for
Ukraine (U4U), a US government humanitarian parole program created
under the Biden administration that allowed private US citizens to
sponsor and help support Ukrainians who left because of the war.
The people who came to the US under that program were given two years
of humanitarian parole.
Approximately 280,000 Ukrainians came to the US through the U4U program
before it was suspended at the start of the Trump administration.
Those who arrived before August 16, 2023, were eligible to apply for
temporary protected status (TPS) as well, which would extend
protections beyond the two years. It is a costly process, and the
application cannot be filed too early. Those who arrived after that
date were unable to apply for TPS.
“Certain Ukrainian citizens and their immediate family members who
were displaced by the Russian invasion and paroled into the United
States on or after Feb. 11, 2022, can request a new period of parole
(also known as re-parole) for up to two additional years,” according
to US Customs and Immigration Servies (USCIS).
However, the administration had an administrative hold “on all
pending USCIS Benefit Requests filed by Parolees Under the Uniting for
Ukraine (U4U) Process” until a court order in late May required them
to resume processing benefits requests filed by U4U parolees.
“Requests for re-parole will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis and
aliens need to demonstrate that urgent humanitarian reasons or
significant public benefit justify their continued presence in the
United States and that they warrant a favorable exercise of
discretion,” a USCIS spokesperson said.
And as authorizations and protections expire, many Ukrainians have not
heard back from US authorities about their status, leaving them in
limbo and unable to legally work.
Tatiana, Natalia and her husband all applied for temporary protected
status, but they say they have not heard back. Their work
authorizations have expired, and they have had to leave their jobs.
“We have to just buy food and pay our bills for apartments and our
cars. We can’t wait,” Tatiana explained to CNN.
“Ukrainians, we just don’t understand why it happened with us,
because the US government led us to come here. They invite us to come
here,” Natalia told CNN.
Although the state of uncertainty that thousands of Ukrainians now find
themselves in is not unfamiliar, it is one they did not want to have to
relive.
“It’s not easy to start a new life in another country,” said
Tatiania.
“It’s so far away from our families,” she said. “I think that
our kids, it’s more painful for them.”
Those who spoke to CNN said if they are forced to leave the US, they do
not know where they will go.
“Countries in Europe, they also cannot just take all the people from
the US,” Tatiana said.
Even if there is a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, Tatiana
told CNN she would not feel safe returning to her home country as long
as Russian President Vladimir Putin remains in power.
“Even if now they will make a peace for some time, we don’t know,
for a year, for two years, or for six months … we know that it will
happen. It will start again,” she said.
American advocates who sponsored Ukrainians to come to the US are still
lobbying lawmakers and the administration to take action.
Angela Boelens, who sponsored several Ukrainians to come to DeWitt,
Iowa, said she does not know if policymakers fully understand the
complexity of the problem.
“When we say Ukrainians are at risk, they might come back at you
with, ‘Well, actually, President Trump said that they could stay.’
Well, that doesn’t mean that they can work,” she said. “They have
no paperwork that says that they’re here legally … They can’t
work. We’re forcing people to become criminals if they try to support
their families.”
Boelens told CNN she never would have sponsored Ukrainians to come to
the US and said if she had known the uncertain future of the program.
“I brought people here with the understanding this is a very legal,
very frugal, pragmatic, practical program to help build small
communities and do the right thing for people in Ukraine,” she said.
“I have an extreme amount of guilt every day, not just for
Ukrainians, but for the Iowans that sponsored them, the Iowans that
brought them here and put their hearts and their hands out. It’s
heartbreaking,” Boelens said.
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