White House denies Trump’s plan to strip 240,000 Ukrainians of deportation protections

​​​​​​​By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - The White House denied Thursday a report suggesting President Donald Trump is planning to remove deportation protections from 240,000 Ukrainians living in the US after fleeing Russia's war.

"This is more fake news from Reuters based on anonymous sources who have no idea what they are talking about," spokesperson Karoline Leavitt wrote on X. "The truth: no decision has been made at this time."

The denial came in response to an earlier report, which suggested Trump is planning to remove Ukraine from the Temporary Protected Status program as part of his wider push to strip protections granted to 1.8 million migrants allowed to enter the US during the Biden administration. That would enable him to fast-track their deportations.

CBS News reported Feb. 1 that Trump is planning to revoke the legal status for a broad swathe of migrants allowed to come to the US legally during the Biden administration, including more than half a million from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.