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By Brendan Cole
Senior Reporter
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Dozens of Ukrainian citizens have returned to Ukraine after being deported by the U.S.
Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service said that 50 citizens had entered the country via a checkpoint with Poland.
Newsweek has contacted Ukraine’s embassy in Washington, DC and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) for comment and additional information.
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Why It Matters
The deportation of 50 Ukrainian citizens comes as Kyiv seeks to keep support from the U.S. government, which is actively deporting Ukrainians despite the ongoing war, focusing on those with criminal records or removal orders.
Ukraine's embassy in Washington, DC said earlier this month it was aware of around 80 nationals who had final orders of removal from the U.S. “due to violations of U.S. law,” but this has prompted debate about sending people back into a conflict zone.
What To Know
The Ukrainian State Border Guard Service said that 50 citizens were returned to Ukraine after being deported by the United States.
The border service spokesman Andrii Demchenko said that Ukrainian nationals entered the country via the Shehyni checkpoint on the border with Poland and possessed the appropriate documents allowing their return.
Ukraine had previously received information from the U.S. regarding plans to deport individuals without U.S. citizenship. Demchenko said Ukraine had been given notice by the U.S. of the deportations which took place under the provisions of international law and that circumstances of their expulsion were still being clarified.
The Trump administration is preparing to deport Ukrainians as the government seeks to ramp up deportations and Kyiv tightens its relationship with Washington, the Washington Post reported earlier in November.
Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s ambassador to Washington, said her mission knew of around 80 Ukrainian nationals who have final orders of removal due to violations of U.S. law and that American authorities were working on the logistics of their removal.
However, this has raised questions about the prospect of citizens being sent back to a warzone.
Lawyers for Roman Surovtsev, 41, have expressed their concerns about their client, who was born before Ukraine’s independence and came to the U.S. legally with his family at age 4, and who has served 11 years in a California prison for crimes including burglary.
He has since become a born-again Christian, married a U.S. citizen, had two children and started a painting company in Dallas area but was rearrested in August when he checked in with ICE as required.
His lawyers, Eric Lee and Chris Godshall-Bennett, told the Post they were worried that Ukrainians and other former citizens of the Soviet Union could be removed without being allowed to protest their deportations and could be forcibly drafted into the army.
Newsweek has been unable to confirm if Surovtsev was among those returned to Ukraine this week.
What People Are Saying
Ukrainian State Border Guard Service spokesperson Andrii Demchenko: "Today, 50 citizens were returned from the United States through the Shehyni checkpoint on the border with Poland.
The statement added: "They were documented with the appropriate papers confirming their Ukrainian citizenship or documents for their return."
Eric Lee and Chris Godshall-Bennett, lawyers for Roman Surovtsev said in a statement per the Washington Post on November 14: "It appears that detainees are not being given the right to demonstrate a fear of removal before being deported. This is unlawful."
What Happens Next
The Post reported there was a policy shift from Ukraine to cooperate more with U.S. efforts to remove some immigrants as Kyiv tries to retain Washington’s support in its fight against Russian aggression.
Amid expected legal wrangling over the move, an unnamed advisor to President Volodymyr Zelensky told the newspaper that the U.S can deport as many citizens as it wants and that a use will be found for them.
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