U.S. deports dozens of migrants to Ukraine amid war

Source: NPR

November 18, 2025 3:10 PM ET


The U.S. deported 50 people to Ukraine this week, a Ukrainian border official said on Tuesday, in what appears to be the single largest such deportation from the U.S. since the country has been at war with Russia.

The flight landed near the Polish border in the early hours on Monday. Since Russia's invasion in 2022, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has deported 105 Ukrainians in total, with 13 in the last quarter of 2024, according to the latest data available in ICE's publicly available tracker.

The Trump administration originally wanted to send 80 people on the flight, according to Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine's ambassador to the United States. That original list also included at least one person that Ukraine had previously been unable to claim as a citizen of the country. It wasn't immediately clear why only 50 people out of the group of 80 ended up in Ukraine.

Immigration lawyers have raised concerns that those deported to Ukraine could be conscripted to fight in the war. All men in Ukraine from ages 25 to 60 are eligible to be drafted, though some women and younger people have also volunteered. While U.S. law permits deportations, including to countries that people are not originally from, domestic and international laws prohibit deportations to place where someone may face violence, persecution or torture.

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2025/11/18/g-s1-98262/ukraine-deportations-war