People gather at the main train station in Kyiv attempting to flee on 4 March 2022. EPA-EFE/ZURAB KURTSIKIDZE

The Trump administration has drawn up plans to use $250 million (€223.9 million) in foreign aid funds to finance the repatriation of hundreds of thousands of refugees, including Ukrainians, in a programme of “self-deportation”, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

According to documents seen by The Washington Post, the proposal could affect up to 200,000 Ukrainians and 500,000 Haitians as the Trump administration seeks to revoke their temporary protected status, which allows migrants from certain countries to remain in the US if they cannot safely return home due to war or environmental disaster.

Ukrainians were granted temporary protected status under former US President Joe Biden in 2022 after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of the country, with the designation later extended until 2026. Haitians have had the status since a devastating earthquake struck the country in 2010, causing ongoing instability in the country.

The draft documents on the proposal suggest that Afghans, Palestinians, Libyans, Sudanese, Syrians and Yemenis could also be targeted for “voluntary deportation”, The Washington Post said.

The proposal is “unusual”, The Washington Post said, as it would affect those who have “escaped from some of the most dangerous parts of the world” and attempts to bypass the UN’s International Organisation for Migration, which typically facilitates the safe, voluntary return of migrants to their home countries.

While Homeland Security Department Spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin stressed that the documents — which were drafted between late April and early May — were “outdated” and that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had not made a “final” decision on protected status for Ukrainians and other refugees, the State Department confirmed it was working on “travel support and financial incentives” to encourage migrants to leave the US of their own accord.

Earlier in May, the Homeland Security Department launched what it called a “historic” programme of “voluntary self-deportation”, which offers a $1,000 (€883) stipend to undocumented migrants who elect to leave the US.

The Washington Post also revealed earlier this month that, shortly after Donald Trump’s inauguration for a second term as US president in January, his administration tried to convince Kyiv not just to accept its own citizens who chose to return home, but also to have Ukraine host third-country nationals deported by the US.