Immigrants from Ukraine, Sudan could soon lose protected status

WASHINGTON — More than 100,000 Ukrainians and roughly 2,000 Sudanese immigrants are bracing for the possibility they’ll lose their humanitarian protections by Monday.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has not indicated if he will renew protections for Ukrainians, who first received Temporary Protected Status after Russia invaded their country in 2022, and for Sudanese nationals, who were granted the designation several times, most recently in 2022, because of an ongoing civil war.

The Trump administration has moved to eliminate legal protections for more than 1 million immigrants that have TPS. Of the 17 countries with the designation at the start of the second Trump administration, the only remaining protections are for Ukraine and Sudan, which are set to end on Monday, and Lebanon, which is set to expire Nov. 27. 

Mullin is supposed to declare his decision at least 60 days before a TPS designation expires, but he’s made no announcement. 

The lack of an announcement would put Ukrainian and Sudanese TPS holders in the same situation as 200,000 Salvadorians, who are still in limbo after DHS did not renew protections set to expire on Sept. 9. 

If no decision is made, an automatic six-month extension kicks in. DHS has not confirmed whether the extension is in place, only that Salvadorians have deportation protections and work authorization, for now. 

DHS did not respond to States Newsroom’s request for comment about TPS extension for Ukraine or Sudan.

Situation unchanged

TPS is granted when a person hails from a country deemed too dangerous to return to because of conflict, natural disaster or another destabilizing event. The Trump administration has sought to wind the program down, especially after the U.S. Supreme Court this summer determined that decisions by the executive branch regarding TPS designations could not be challenged in court. 

Immigration advocates say the rationale for providing TPS to Ukrainians has not changed.

“With the war in Ukraine still ongoing and conditions remaining unsafe, the administration should extend TPS for Ukrainians,” Jennie Murray, president and CEO of the advocacy group National Immigration Forum, said in a statement. “Forcing people to return to Ukraine in these circumstances is dangerous and a departure from longstanding U.S. policy.”

If Mullin ends TPS for Ukraine, it wouldn’t be the first time Ukrainians have lost humanitarian protections under the second Trump administration. 

Last year, the Trump administration moved to end new applicants for a humanitarian program created by the Biden administration that allowed more than 220,000 Ukrainians to enter the U.S.

The State Department has a do-not-travel advisory, its highest advisory level, for Ukraine and Sudan.

Trump-Zelenskyy tensions

Fraught relations between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy further complicate the issue as Monday’s deadline approaches.

Trump has grown frustrated with the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, and has blamed Ukraine for a spike in oil prices, ignoring the effect of his war in Iran. 

On Oct. 9, Trump moved to ease sanctions on Russian diesel exports. Zelenskyy called the decision “a weak decision by strong partners,” according to The Associated Press.

On Oct. 10, Trump told reporters that Ukraine should “get a new leader.” 

In an interview with NPR, Zelenskyy said the Trump administration said unless Ukraine stops long-range drone strikes on oil refineries in Russia, it could cut off U.S. intelligence-sharing with Ukraine. 

The two leaders have clashed in the past.

In February 2025, during a visit to the White House, the president got into a heated exchange with Zelenskyy, appearing to break with Ukraine and its resistance to Russia’s invasion. 

Trump’s relationship with Ukraine was also the center of his first impeachment, after a U.S. House inquiry found the president threatened to withhold military aid unless Ukraine investigated his political opponent at the time, Joe Biden.

The U.S. Senate acquitted Trump in an impeachment trial. 

Lawmakers push for extensions

There is a bipartisan congressional push to extend protections for Ukrainians at least until the end of 2029. 

In a letter to Mullin and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, 31 senators urged for Ukrainians to be granted an 18-month extension, the longest renewal for TPS holders.

“The ongoing war has caused a humanitarian crisis and damage to critical civilian infrastructure that has left many with limited or no access to heat, electricity or medical services,” the senators wrote. “Ukrainian nationals cannot safely return at this time, and allowing TPS to terminate on October 19, 2026, would risk sending more than one hundred thousand individuals back to an active war zone.”

The Republicans who signed the letter were Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. 

The Democratic senators who signed the letter were Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland, Michael Bennet of Colorado, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Chris Coons of Delaware, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Andy Kim of New Jersey, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Patty Murray of Washington, Gary Peters of Michigan, Jack Reed of Rhode Island, Jacky Rosen of Nevada, Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Adam Schiff of California, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, Tina Smith of Minnesota, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, Mark Warner of Virginia, Raphael Warnock of Georgia, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Peter Welch of Vermont, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Ron Wyden of Oregon and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois.

Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine, who caucuses with Democrats, also signed the letter. 

A handful of Democratic senators also urged Mullin to extend TPS protections for Sudanese in an Aug. 17 letter. 

“The ongoing armed conflict, catastrophic humanitarian crisis, and widespread human rights abuses make the safe return of Sudanese nationals impossible at this time,” they wrote. “TPS for Sudanese nationals in the United States remains both a humanitarian necessity and a prudent policy to ensure that individuals are not forced to return to conditions that continue to threaten their safety and well-being.”

Those senators were Warner, Kaine, Schiff, Van Hollen, Warnock, Booker, Bennet and Duckworth.