Nearly 200,000 Ukrainians in US thrown into legal limbo by Trump immigration crackdown


Kateryna Golizdra holds her Ukrainian passport for a photograph outside her home in Margate, Florida, U.S., November 17, 2025. REUTERS/Maria Alejandra Cardona

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Kateryna Golizdra has survived six months in legal limbo - so far. She thinks she can hold out another six months, waiting for Donald Trump's administration to decide the fate of a humanitarian program that allowed some 260,000 people who fled the war in Ukraine to live and work in the United States.

When her legal status lapsed in May,Golizdra, 35, automatically became vulnerable to deportation. She lost her work permit and was forced to leave a job earning over $50,000 a yearas a manager at the Ritz-Carlton in Fort Lauderdale. Golizdra also lost the health insurance that she used to cover check-ups for a liver condition. And she can no longer send money to her mother, who was also displaced and lives in Germany, she said.

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