The US Immigration Service has stopped processing any applications from Ukrainians who entered the US under U4U.

The United States is suspending all immigration applications filed by foreigners who came to the country under immigration programs adopted under Joe Biden. Among the affected groups are Ukrainians who came to America under the Uniting for Ukraine (U4U) program, according to an internal memo obtained by CBS News.

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The Trump administration has suspended all immigration applications filed by migrants from Latin America and Ukraine who were admitted to the U.S. under some Biden-era programs, citing concerns about fraud. The freeze will remain in effect indefinitely while government officials work to identify potential fraud and strengthen screening procedures.

The move, which has not previously been publicly reported, creates uncertainty for many migrants in the process of applying for various immigration statuses, including green cards.

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While the exact number of migrants affected is unknown, the ban on applications applies to several Biden administration programs that have allowed hundreds of thousands of foreigners to legally enter the U.S. through parole. The Biden administration used the parole mechanism on an unprecedented scale, and the Trump administration quickly moved to suspend those programs, arguing that they were abusing the parole authority.

The Trump administration had previously stopped accepting new applications under the Biden-era parole programs. But in a Feb. 14 memo, senior USCIS official Andrew Davidson ordered an “administrative hold” on all “pending applications for immigration benefits” submitted by migrants who had previously been admitted to the United States under three Biden administration programs.

Among them is the Uniting for Ukraine program, designed to provide a passcode for Ukrainians fleeing Russian invasion. Some 240 Ukrainians with American sponsors arrived in the United States under this program before President Trump took office.

Another affected program, known as CHNV, allowed 530 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans sponsored by American citizens to enter the United States.

The third program included mechanisms that allowed some Colombians, Ecuadorians, Central Americans, Haitians, and Cubans with relatives in the United States to enter the country and wait for a family-based green card.

Because migrants admitted to the United States under these programs received only temporary work permits and protection from deportation (usually for two years), many of them applied for other immigration statuses.

Now all applications from these people have stopped being accepted, and those already accepted have stopped being processed. We are talking about applications for temporary protected status (TPS), green cards and other statuses.

However, according to an internal USCIS directive, officers will no longer be able to process applications for these programs or any other immigration statuses if they are submitted by migrants who arrived in the United States under the Biden administration's targeted programs mentioned above.

“It essentially freezes their ability to transition to another legal status,” said Linden Melmed, who served as USCIS’s top lawyer in the George W. Bush administration and is now a partner at the law firm Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP. “During that time, they are at risk of deportation if the government revokes their parole status.”

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The suspension, the memo said, could be lifted, but only after officials complete a “comprehensive review and assessment of aliens who have been or remain in the United States under these parole programs.”

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