A Ukrainian woman was detained in San Diego, California, by US immigration enforcement on Dec. 4 after attending a scheduled “green card” interview.
As per Newsweek, Viktoriia Bulavina, 46, is married to US citizen Victor Korol. She entered the US in September 2022 as part of former President Joe Biden’s “Uniting for Ukraine” humanitarian program.
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On Monday, Korol told Newsweek that his wife has always had legal status. Her “green card” interview – during which she expected to receive a permit allowing her to live and work in the US indefinitely – with an immigration officer lasted for roughly an hour.
“[The immigration officer] said everything is good, it’s going to be OK, but she said, ‘I need to step out, excuse me.’ She stepped out of the room, she came back with two people from ICE, and they said they were going to detain my wife,” Korol said.
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) disputed that Bulavina is in the US legally, telling Newsweek that her Temporary Protected Status had lapsed.
“ICE arrested Viktoriia Bulavina, an illegal alien from Ukraine, on December 4, 2025. Her temporary protected status expired on April 19, 2025. She has been placed in immigration proceedings. All of her claims will be heard by a judge. She will receive full due process,” Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said.
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Since being re-elected, however, US President Donald Trump has carried out deportations on a massive scale. Although the actual numbers fall far short of his campaign promises, the US immigration system is buckling under the pressure.
Bulavina’s detention could be seen as part of a wider pattern of unexpected arrests by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during green card meetings and other regularly scheduled immigration appointments.
Bulavina’s legal team told Newsweek that US immigration authorities had approved her application for Temporary Protected Status in June 2024. Although it expired in April this year, Bulavina married Korol in November 2024. The couple said that authorities told her they needed nothing further from her.
Korol said that his wife was held at the San Diego federal building until Dec. 7, before being transferred to an ICE detention center. He added that he has spoken to her by phone a few times because “a good-hearted guard gave her her personal phone to call.”
The couple have five children between them, and Korol has been diagnosed with cancer.
“You don’t want to believe it is happening to her, and to us,” he told Newsweek.
Trump’s stance on Ukraine has swung wildly back and forth in recent months. Since late November, the Trump administration has been attempting to secure Ukraine’s agreement to a plan to end Russia’s war in Ukraine drafted by US and Russian officials.
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