White House Denies Reuters Report Trump Planning To Deport Ukrainian Refugees: ‘Fake News!’

(Sipa via AP Images)

The White House denied claims by Reuters that President Donald Trump is reportedly preparing to revoke temporary legal protections for approximately 240,000 Ukrainians in a move that the outlet said would place them on the fast track for deportation as early as April.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted a screengrab of the Reuters article on Thursday and blasted the report as “fake news” that was “based on anonymous sources.”

The revelation, which Reuters said had been shared by a senior Trump official and three other sources, came after the president’s very public clash with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in an Oval Office showdown that resulted in the administration pausing military aid for the country and derailed the signing of a rare earth minerals deal, part of the Trump’s wider peace strategy.

The change of status for Ukrainian refugees, Reuters reported Thursday, was reportedly already in motion before Trump’s public spat with Zelensky, and is part of a sweeping crackdown on Biden-era immigration policies. The administration is looking to strip legal status from more than 1.8 million migrants who were allowed entry under temporary humanitarian parole programs

This article has been updated to include the White House statement.