❓WHAT HAPPENED: Dozens of Ukrainian criminals have been deported by the Trump administration and returned to Ukraine via Poland.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service, and Ukrainian nationals.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The deportations were confirmed this week, with deportees reentering Ukraine through the Shehyni checkpoint on the Polish border.
💬KEY QUOTE: “Today, 50 citizens were returned from the United States through the Shehyni checkpoint on the border with Poland. They were documented with the appropriate papers confirming their Ukrainian citizenship or documents for their return.” – Andrii Demchenko, Ukrainian State Border Guard Service spokesman.
🎯IMPACT: The deportations underscore the Trump administration’s commitment to deporting foreign lawbreakers even if they come from conflict zones.
Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service has confirmed that 50 Ukrainian citizens deported from the United States have arrived back in the country through the Shehyni crossing on the border with Poland. Officials said the deportees carried either documents verifying their Ukrainian citizenship or other paperwork permitting their return.
The Ukrainian embassy in Washington, D.C., previously noted that an estimated 80 Ukrainian nationals had been issued final deportation orders due to violations of U.S. law. Notably, Ukraine has recently taken a more cooperative stance toward U.S. deportation efforts. The shift is believed to be linked to Kiev’s efforts to maintain U.S. support amid its ongoing war with Russia. One unnamed adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky was quoted as saying, “The U.S. can deport as many citizens as it wants and… a use will be found for them.”
Among those deported was 41-year-old Roman Surovtsev, who legally immigrated to the U.S. as a child but later served a prison sentence for burglary. His lawyers argue that he and others have been denied the opportunity to present claims of fear regarding their removal, claiming the process is “unlawful.”
Andrii Demchenko, spokesman for Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service, confirmed the group’s return, stating: “Today, 50 citizens were returned from the United States through the Shehyni checkpoint… They were documented with the appropriate papers confirming their Ukrainian citizenship or documents for their return.”
The removals come amid a sweeping expansion of U.S. immigration enforcement. Since the start of the year, U.S. authorities have carried out more than 515,000 deportations and are on pace to reach 600,000 by year’s end, which would set a new record. Analysts also report that the U.S. foreign-born population has fallen by an estimated 2.2 million, with both deportations and voluntary departures contributing to the decline.
Driving much of the acceleration is Border Czar Tom Homan, who has called for increasing daily arrests to 7,000. The administration has also moved to expand detention capacity and staffing, arguing that significantly greater resources are needed to sustain the current level of removals.
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