MINNEAPOLIS — Standing outside the Ukrainian American Community Center, Oleksii Chyrka's anxiety is increasing.
"We are uncertain; we have no idea what to do next," Chyrka tells NPR through a Ukrainian interpreter.
As soon as this week, things could drastically change for Chyrka who, along with his wife, and three kids, could lose his legal status in the U.S. after living here since 2023. That could also mean he will lose his work permit, and his jobs as a cabinet maker and FedEx driver.
Going back to his home country of Ukraine and his city, Kharkiv, in the far northeast near the war's front lines, is not an option for him, he says.
"It's very dangerous, especially our city, Kharkiv," Chyrka said. "I don't want it."
Chyrka is one of about 240,000 Ukrainians who fled to the U.S. after the Russian invasion of their country through a Biden-era program called Uniting for Ukraine, which provided temporary protection from deportation and permission to work.
But those legal protections look increasingly fragile, and not just because of President Trump's recent dust-up with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. On the day he took office in January, President Trump ordered the termination of all "categorical parole programs," leaving Uniting For Ukraine enrollees unsure of their future in the U.S.
"They're in a very precarious status at this point," said Anne Smith, the executive director of the Ukraine Immigration Task Force, a nonprofit formed in 2022 to help Ukrainians navigate the U.S. immigration system.
Uniting For Ukraine launched quickly in the spring of 2022, allowing people in the U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents to help Ukrainians resettle.
More than half of those sponsors were concentrated in five states — Illinois, New York, California, Florida and Washington — according to data from the Department of Homeland Security. But Ukrainians were not required to live in the same place as their sponsors, making it impossible to say for sure exactly where they settled, according to Smith.
The Trump administration this week moved to terminate parole for more than 500,000 people who entered the U.S. through a similar program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans. Now Ukrainians fear they will be next.
Ukrainians in U.S. 'cannot live a full life'
Some Ukrainians are already in a limbo.
28-year-old Viktoriia Panova's work permit expired last month.
Before it expired, she worked three jobs — at a restaurant, a cafe, and a bar. Now she can't work legally at all.
"Ukrainians cannot just sit and do nothing," Panova said. "My hands are shaking because I have no work. I have nothing to do now."
She applied for a work permit renewal, but it has not been processed, and it's unclear if it will ever be. She's now living off modest savings from working her three jobs.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency that administers the immigration system, says it is not acting on those registrations or renewals.
The USCIS says it is pausing the processing of any immigration benefit requests for anyone who was allowed into the U.S. under parole programs, including United For Ukraine, until the agency can "complete additional screening and vetting to determine if there are any fraud, public safety, or national security concerns," according to an automated email response sent to applicants and shared with NPR.
A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, which includes USCIS, confirmed the pause on all pending benefit requests for parolees under the Uniting For Ukraine process.
"The effect is that it leaves these Ukrainians with no lawful way to stay in a safe country, and with no end to the war in sight," said Smith, who is also a practicing immigration lawyer in Washington.
For Panova, this latest parole uncertainty piles on to the feeling that her life has been put on hold since the Russian invasion.
"Ukrainians, we cannot create any plans for our lives because of this situation," Panova said. "We cannot live a full life."
Building a community
In Minneapolis, many Ukrainians have started building their new lives and contributing to the community.
According to the Minnesota Department of Human Services, more than 2,000 Ukrainians have come to Minneapolis through the Uniting for Ukraine Program.
On a recent Friday night, the Ukrainian American Community Center in Minneapolis hosted a Lenten fish fry, as they do every Friday of the pre-Easter season.
The event has become very popular among locals. So many people — mostly Americans — showed up that the line outside went down the block.
Iryna Korshun, 38, was one of the recent Ukrainian arrivals in attendance.
She's from Odesa, a port city in Ukraine that has taken heavy rocket and missile fire from Russia.
Korshun has been in Minneapolis for just 6 months, works at Marshalls, and has another year left on her legal stay. She came with her two sons, leaving her husband behind in Ukraine to fight in the war.
"I hope that this program continues for us to be safe; that people in America
will continue to support us the way they have until now," she says through
an interpreter. She says she has felt welcomed by the Americans she's met
in Minneapolis, and just hopes U.S. policy will reflect that generosity, too.
Immigration lawyers have been more wary. Some were not surprised that the Trump administration has moved to end these humanitarian parole programs, and had been telling their clients they should seek other forms of legal protections to stay in the U.S.
At least 50,000 Ukrainians have signed up for Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, which also provides temporary protection from deportation and permission to work legally in the U.S. In January, the Biden administration at the end of its term moved to extend TPS for Ukraine until at least 2026.
But it's unclear how many Ukrainians will be able to take advantage of that extension. Immigration lawyers say a substantial number who already have TPS need to re-register before their status expires on April 19 — and USCIS is not acting on those requests either, because of the pause on immigration benefits for anyone who came to the U.S. through a parole program.
President Trump was asked earlier this month if his administration plans to revoke TPS for Ukrainians, a step it has already announced for Haitians and Venezuelans.
"We're not looking to hurt them. Especially Ukrainians, they've gone through a lot," Trump said. "I'll be making a decision pretty soon."
Vadym and Liubov Holiuk hope the decision comes before they lose their protection from deportation in April.
The couple's Uniting for Ukraine parole expired last year. They applied for renewal, but have not received a response.
"We are a guest in the United States," Vadym Holiuk said. "If he decides to close this program, it's OK. We don't have a choice."
The Holiuk's say the community in Minneapolis has embraced them. Their sponsor family hosts them for holidays, dinners, and drives them to medical appointments.
Now they hope the Trump administration will embrace them, too, before they run out of time.
"[We'll] try to learn English … try to stay here," Vadym Holiuk said. "We don't know what will [happen] tomorrow."
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