Kateryna Golizdra has survived six months in legal limbo — so far. She thinks she can hold out another six months, waiting for Donald Trump's administration to decide the fate of a humanitarian program that allowed some 260,000 people who fled the war in Ukraine to live and work in the United States.
When her legal status lapsed in May, Golizdra, 35, automatically became vulnerable to deportation. She lost her work permit and was forced to leave a job earning over $50,000 a year as a manager at the Ritz-Carlton in Fort Lauderdale. Golizdra also lost the health insurance that she used to cover checkups for a liver condition. And she can no longer send money to her mother, who was also displaced and lives in Germany, she said.
The Trump administration's processing delays on the humanitarian program for Ukrainians launched by former Democratic President Joe Biden left nearly 200,000 people at risk of losing their legal status as of March 31, according to internal U.S. government data. The number of Ukrainians affected by the delays has not been previously reported.
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