Immigrants in Central Florida’s Ukrainian community are awaiting a decision that would take away temporary protected status, or TPS, from the federal government. The designation allows immigrants to live and work in the U.S. without fear of deportation.
The Trump administration is weighing whether to end TPS for the 240,000 Ukrainians who fled to the United States as refugees from the ongoing three-year war with Russia.
About 5,000 Ukrainian refugees live in Florida under the temporary protected status of the U.S. government. About 650 of them live in Central Florida, according to the state Department of Children and Families.
The Trump administration has paused all refugee programs and recently ended TPS for Venezuelans and Haitians. Earlier this month, President Trump said he was weighing whether to end it for Ukrainians, while also expressing sympathy for their plight.
“There were some people that think that’s appropriate and some people don’t, and I’ll be making the decision pretty soon,’’ Trump told reporters. “But we’re not looking to hurt them. Especially Ukrainians. They’ve gone through a lot.’’
On the day he was inaugurated, Trump signed an executive order for the Department of Homeland Security to "terminate all categorical parole programs."
Ending protections for Ukrainians would be part of a broader Trump administration effort to do away with legal status for more than 1.8 million migrants who were allowed to enter the U.S. under temporary humanitarian parole programs during the Biden administration, which extended TPS for Ukrainians through the “United for Ukraine’’ [UFU] program three days before Trump took office.
Darya Robinson is communications director with Florida For Ukraine, a group that advocates for Ukrainian refugees in the state.
The organization, based in Hallandale Beach in South Florida, organized in February 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine. Robinson said there are about 4,000 Ukrainian refugee families in South Florida.
“The majority of our community here is people who are on temporary protected status and people who arrived in the UFU program,’’ Robinson said. “We need to remember that the majority of Ukrainians who arrived here in the U.S. are women and children. Because from the first day of the full-scale war, men were not allowed to leave the country, with few exceptions.’’
Robinson says the children her organization works with have experienced the stress of witnessing the war, leaving their schools and homes behind, moving to a new country, having to learn English, making new friends and fitting in to a new community. If they and their families lose TPS, they face the prospect of being uprooted again.
“Where should people go?’’ she said. “They cannot return to Ukraine. I mean, it’s still unsafe. So, that means they will need to move to a third country somewhere? And start all over again? It’s very stressful and it’s very shocking. It’s very disappointing that it’s even on the table for discussion.’’
Trump administration officials say a decision on whether or not to cancel temporary protected status for Ukrainians will be made sometime in April.
In the meantime, Robinson said Ukrainian refugees are anxious.
“There’s a lot of fear about what people are going to do,’’ Robinson said. “I know some of the families who already faced the challenges that their interviews for the green card had been scheduled in March and have been canceled two days before without any justification and without a new date. Everybody’s in limbo. It’s stressful for them.’’
Robinson adds that she hopes Americans understand and can appreciate what their Ukrainian refugee neighbors are going through.
“All the Ukrainians that arrived here, it’s not because they have an American dream, but it’s because somebody invaded our home, and it’s a forced immigration,’’ Robinson said. “All that we want is to make sure that our families, our kids, are safe. And we want to raise the next generation of Ukrainians without the sound of the bomb, without the fear of the air sirens, and without being killed when they are in school. We’re here to support democracy. We are fighting for democracy. We are fighting for what is right. And we hope Americans will understand that and will support it and will not fall for the Russian narrative that it is somehow our fault that they invaded us.’’
