In just his first 100 days back in office, President Donald Trump has shaken America’s immigration landscape, sending shockwaves through migrant communities. His administration has moved swiftly to revoke the legal status of hundreds of thousands of immigrants — including Ukrainians who fled war under President Biden’s programs — forcing many families to reconsider their future in the U.S.
Taras Atamanchuk, a 32-year-old Ukrainian software engineer, thought he had found safety and opportunity near Houston, Texas. After arriving in 2023 through Biden’s humanitarian parole program, he secured a job with a $120,000 salary and welcomed a new baby boy. But earlier this year, when he tried to renew his work permit, he discovered that renewals had quietly stopped under Trump. “I can’t work, and there’s no place to go,” Taras said, worried about how to support his growing family.
Across the country, immigrants are grappling with similar fears. Trump’s new immigration strategy includes canceling Biden-era programs and aggressively revoking visas — even for those who have committed minor infractions or protested on college campuses. Plainclothes immigration officers have been conducting raids at homes, workplaces, and universities, drawing heavy criticism from immigrant advocates and Democrats alike.
Despite the controversy, Trump’s immigration policy enjoys a 45% approval rating among Americans, according to a mid-April Reuters/Ipsos poll — higher than his ratings on most other issues.
“The campaign promised to go after criminals, but what’s happening now is a much broader crackdown,” said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council.
One major target: the 240,000 Ukrainians who entered the U.S. legally through Biden’s parole program. Although a federal judge recently blocked Trump’s attempt to strip legal status from 530,000 migrants from other nations like Cuba and Venezuela, uncertainty looms for many.
The Trump administration has also repurposed Biden’s CBP One app — initially used to streamline border crossings — into a tool for self-deportation. Migrants who once used the app to enter legally are now receiving blunt emails telling them: “It is time for you to leave the United States.”
For people like Claudia, a Mexican asylum seeker living in California with her husband and four children, the notice was devastating. “I felt dizzy,” she said after receiving the translated message late one evening.
The White House, meanwhile, defends the sweeping actions. Spokesperson Kush Desai insists the administration is “restoring integrity” to the immigration system by reversing Biden’s “illegal” programs.
Adding to the turmoil, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ramped up enforcement, arresting 145,000 immigration violators in Trump’s first three months — a sharp increase from previous years. Deportations, however, have decreased slightly compared to Biden’s era due to differences in how migrants at the border are processed.
University campuses have not been spared either. International students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests, such as Columbia University’s Mahmoud Khalil, are finding their visas revoked and facing deportation proceedings — raising new questions about the balance between immigration enforcement and free speech.
For thousands of migrants, the message is now clear: Legal protections once offered are disappearing fast, and the future in America is more uncertain than ever.
