President Donald Trump reportedly asked several foreign governments if they would accept U.S. deportees who are not their citizens—including war-torn Ukraine.
Documents obtained by The Washington Post revealed that the Trump administration asked Kyiv in late January to take in third-country nationals deported by the U.S., all while Ukraine was fending off Russia’s attacks.
A Ukrainian diplomat told American counterparts that while Ukraine had a “solid track record of accepting the return of its citizens when removed by the United States,” it was dealing with “wartime exigencies,” the Post reported Tuesday.
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Data from the United Nations showed that at least 139 civilians were killed and over 700 were injured in Ukraine in January, mostly from Russian short-range drone attacks.
The proposal to Ukraine, relayed by a senior U.S. diplomat, was reportedly one of many that the Trump administration sent to multiple countries around the same time. Former U.S. officials told the Post that the proposal was unusual and outside of routine diplomatic correspondence.
A Ukrainian diplomat reportedly told the U.S. Embassy that they would respond once they formulated their position, but there is no indication that Kyiv seriously weighed the proposal.
Two Ukrainian officials told the Post that the proposal never reached the highest level of government. One official said he was unaware of any “political demands” made by the Trump administration related to accepting deportees.
Other countries, including El Salvador, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, and Rwanda, have agreed to take in U.S. deportees who are not their citizens.
The State Department said in a statement to the newspaper that the “ongoing engagement with foreign governments” was “vital to deterring illegal and mass migration and securing our borders.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
On the campaign trail, Trump touted that he could secure a Russia-Ukraine peace deal in his first 24 hours back in office.
“I will get it settled before I even become president,” Trump said in September. “I know [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky very well, and I know [Russian President Vladimir] Putin very well. I have a good relationship, and they respect your president, OK, they respect me. They don’t respect Biden.”
In an April interview with Time magazine to mark his first 100 days, however, Trump said he had only said that “figuratively.”
“I said that as an exaggeration, because to make a point, and you know, it gets, of course, by the fake news,” he said. “Obviously, people know that when I said that, it was said in jest, but it was also said that it will be ended.”
Trump had a meltdown at Zelensky last month after the Ukrainian president rejected a proposed peace deal that involved recognizing Crimea as Russian territory.
