Ukrainian woman fleeing war detained at green card interview

(SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES) A Ukrainian woman who fled Russia’s full-scale invasion was arrested by immigration officers during her green card interview in San Diego, in front of her U.S. citizen husband, after officials treated her Temporary Protected Status (TPS) as expired despite a pending renewal request. The December 4, 2025 arrest of 34-year-old Viktoriia Bulavina has sent shock waves through immigrant communities and advocacy circles, raising fears that a routine part of the legal process has become a place of sudden detention.

What happened at the USCIS interview

Bulavina, who came from Ukraine after the war began, had been living lawfully in the United States under Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a program that lets people from certain countries remain and work legally when it is too dangerous to return home.

According to her husband, U.S. citizen software engineer Victor Carro, she applied to renew her TPS three months before it was set to expire and was told by immigration authorities a decision would come within two weeks. Instead, when the couple arrived for what they believed would be a standard marriage-based green card interview with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in San Diego, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers detained her, saying her TPS was no longer valid.

Carro, still shaken, said he watched as officers led his wife away with no clear explanation of the legal basis for the arrest. He and their immigration attorney say Bulavina has no criminal record, has never violated immigration orders, and has followed every rule placed before her. He called her detention an “utter injustice” and said it sent a chilling message to others trying to fix their status through official channels.

The couple had come to the appointment expecting questions about their relationship and marriage, not a sudden transfer of Bulavina into ICE custody.

Detention and legal response

Following the arrest, ICE moved Bulavina to the Otay Mesa Detention Center, a facility on the edge of San Diego County that holds immigrants facing deportation proceedings.

Her husband has been working with their attorney to seek her release from Otay Mesa while she continues to fight for both her TPS renewal and her permanent residence case. The attorney argues that because Bulavina filed to renew her TPS on time, she should have remained in a period of authorized stay and should never have been treated as someone with “expired” status.

They say the government’s delay in processing the renewal is now being used against her, turning a paperwork backlog into a path to detention.

“A paperwork backlog should not become a pathway to detention,” say the couple’s advocates — a key takeaway shared by many immigration lawyers.

A broader pattern — why advocates are alarmed

This case fits into what lawyers describe as a troubling pattern: people who believe they are doing everything right by attending their green card interview are sometimes detained without warning.

Advocates say this risk is especially high for those with past orders of removal, past status lapses, or complex records. Bulavina’s supporters stress that none of those factors apply to her, which makes the arrest particularly alarming.

According to analysis by VisaVerge.com, cases like this deepen fear and distrust, leading some mixed-status families to skip appointments that are actually required to finish their legal process.

Questions about agency coordination and transparency

USCIS, the agency that handles family-based green card applications and TPS renewals, has been asked to explain how a TPS holder with a timely filed renewal ended up in ICE custody, but as of the latest reports it had not responded.

ICE has also not publicly detailed the specific immigration charges it believes apply in Bulavina’s case. The lack of answers leaves many questions about:

• How information is shared between USCIS and ICE
• Under what circumstances ICE moves to arrest someone at a USCIS office
• Whether procedural safeguards are being followed

Official guidance states that USCIS does not itself make arrest decisions at interviews; instead, ICE retains authority for enforcement. For families like the Carros, that legal distinction offers little comfort when the arrest happens inside a USCIS building.

What TPS is and why it matters

Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is meant to give people like Bulavina a measure of safety while they wait for conditions in their home countries to improve.

• The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) decides which countries qualify and for how long.
• People must file specific applications to receive and renew benefits.
• For Ukrainians, TPS has been a lifeline, recognizing that return could mean exposure to shelling, occupation, or forced recruitment.

Immigration lawyers say that when a TPS holder is placed in detention despite following the rules, it can feel like the ground has dropped out from under the entire program. Official information about TPS, including eligibility and renewal rules, is posted on the USCIS website at uscis.gov/humanitarian/temporary-protected-status.

Common immigration forms involved

In most marriage-based immigration cases, the typical forms include:

1. The U.S. citizen spouse files Form I-130 (Petition for Alien Relative).
2. The foreign spouse files Form I-485 (Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status).
3. Many TPS holders also file Form I-821 (Application for Temporary Protected Status) to secure or renew TPS.

These forms often create a period of authorized stay when filed on time. Still, attorneys warn that paperwork alone does not guarantee protection from enforcement actions.

Quick reference table: Forms mentioned

Human impact: fear, separation, and legal access

For Ukrainian nationals in the United States, Bulavina’s arrest adds a new layer of fear to lives already marked by war and separation.

• Many arrived after Russia’s invasion, leaving family, homes, and careers behind.
• TPS work permits enabled many to find jobs and support relatives abroad.
• Hearing that a woman with TPS, a U.S. citizen husband, and a clean record was taken at her green card interview has led some to ask their lawyers whether they should postpone appointments.

Immigration attorneys in San Diego say they are now spending more time preparing clients for the small but real possibility that an interview could end in detention rather than approval.

Advocates also stress the human cost of detention at Otay Mesa Detention Center and similar facilities:

• People can be moved far from their families.
• Language barriers and limited legal access make defense harder.
• Detention can pressure people to abandon their cases or accept removal just to secure release.

In Bulavina’s situation, her husband says the separation has been emotionally draining and financially risky, since she can no longer work while detained. He worries about her health and safety inside Otay Mesa and what might happen if her TPS renewal or green card case is denied while she remains behind bars.

Calls for alternatives to detention

Her supporters argue DHS has broad power to release people like Bulavina while their cases move forward, using tools such as:

• Parole
• Supervised release
• Release on bond

They say a woman with no record, a strong marriage case, and deep community ties presents no flight risk and no danger.

For now, though, she remains inside the Otay Mesa facility, waiting for a bond hearing and hoping decision-makers will see her not as a file number, but as a person who fled war only to be locked up while trying to follow the law in the United States.