The Trump administration plans to use $250 million in foreign aid to deport Ukrainians and Haitians - WP

The Donald Trump administration is preparing a plan that involves using US foreign aid funds to finance a voluntary repatriation program for migrants, including Ukrainians and Haitians. We are talking about more than 700,000 people who left their countries due to war, violence and humanitarian crises. This is reported by The Washington Post, writes UNN.

Details

According to the information, the proposal was in development until the relevant statement of the Ministry of Internal Security of May 5, which stated that immigrants who voluntarily "self-deport" to their countries will be eligible to receive a scholarship of 1000 dollars from the US government.

In particular, the proposal developed during the presidency of Donald Trump is unusual, because it covers people who have fled from some of the most dangerous parts of the world. And obviously, as reported, it is aimed at circumventing the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which usually helps migrants return to their homes. This also coincides with the administration's proposal to drastically cut foreign aid, in particular, by eliminating the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and terminating 80% of its programs, including those that served Ukraine, Haiti and other troubled countries.

In addition to Ukrainians and Haitians, the draft documents also mention Afghans, Palestinians, Libyans, Sudanese, Syrians and Yemenis, and state that they may also be subject to the voluntary deportation program. 

The draft documents were marked as preliminary, and a DHS representative called them "outdated." However, DHS and the State Department signed an agreement last week detailing the same process and indicating an amount of $250 million in foreign aid that will support it. However, it does not name specific nationalities that will be targeted for voluntary return.

Critics of the proposal, including former government officials, said it was inhumane and contrary to long-standing US ideals, when the Trump administration forces asylum seekers to return to countries where they risk being killed. They also raised the question of whether such a plan is a misuse of foreign aid funds intended primarily to support refugees and their resettlement.

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Under the Biden administration, both Ukrainians and Haitians have been granted what the US government calls temporary protected status, which allows migrants to remain in the US if they cannot safely return to their home country. The documents reviewed by The Post state that more than 200,000 Ukrainians and 500,000 Haitians could become part of the voluntary deportation process.

The Biden administration first granted temporary protected status to Ukrainians in 2022, after the Russian Federation started the war. Haitians have had temporary protected status since 2010, when a devastating earthquake struck the country, killing thousands, and the status has been repeatedly extended due to ongoing security problems and instability in the country.

Promoting voluntary deportations is consistent with the Trump administration's policy of using unconventional and, in some cases, controversial methods of deporting migrants and other foreign nationals from the United States, including through forced deportations and deporting people to countries that are not their home.

According to the draft documents reviewed by The Post, the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) will fund the voluntary deportation program using money appropriated by Congress for charter flights or the purchase of tickets for commercial air travel.

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Let us remind you

Earlier, The Washington Post reported that the Trump administration earlier this year called on the Ukrainian government to accept an unspecified number of migrants deported from the country. Also, similar proposals were sent to a number of other countries around the same time.