The Trump administration is considering using foreign aid funds to remove migrants — including Ukrainians — who came to the U.S. fleeing violence and returning them to active war zones, according to a report.
Hundreds of thousands of migrants, including those from Ukraine and Haiti, are being considered in the plans that would see the administration spend up to $250 million earmarked for foreign assistance, according to The Washington Post.
In draft documents obtained by the newspaper, Afghans, Palestinians, Libyans, Sudanese, Syrians and Yemenis could also be targeted in the administration’s voluntary deportation program. Afghans are likely to be the first group targeted with the voluntary packages, despite the risk they face at home from the Taliban, according to the Post.
Haitians were first given temporary protected status in 2010 after a devastating earthquake, which in turn triggered more than a decade of instability across the country.
Ukrainians were given temporary protected status after Russia invaded the country in 2022.
It comes as the Trump administration moved at breakneck speed to gut U.S. foreign aid and dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development in its anti-immigration crackdown.
The plans were reportedly in development before the Department of Homeland Security announced earlier this month that “illegal aliens” who use the Customs and Border Protection Home app to “self-deport” will receive “financial and travel” assistance, including a $1,000 stipend.
Previous administrations have supported using taxpayer money for the voluntary removal of migrants, the Post noted. But the plans the outlet reviewed are “unusual” because they are targeting those who fled violence and escaped from some of the world’s most dangerous places.
The Post reports that the UN-affiliated body that typically assists in returning migrants to their home countries, the International Organization for Migration, appears to have been “bypassed.” The UN office “does not support the return of people to any of those places,” the documents said, according to the newspaper.
The documents were produced between late April and early May, the outlet reports.
Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said that the documents were “outdated,” and added that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has not made a “final” decision on the temporary protected status of Ukrainians or Haitians. Noem has already canceled humanitarian protections for more than 11,000 Afghans following the U.S. withdrawal in 2021.
The department has indicated that it could roll back the protected status of Haitians as soon as August.
The Independent has contacted the department for further comment.
“DHS and the State Department are working together to further implement the President’s agenda by using foreign aid money to assist those illegally in our country to voluntarily self-deport,” McLaughlin said in a statement to the Post.
The State Department told the outlet that it was seeking to provide “travel support and financial incentives” to encourage migrants to leave the U.S. voluntarily, but did not directly address questions about Ukrainians and Haitians, the newspaper reported.
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