Karina Krainova chose missile alerts over immigration police. At the age of 39, she decided to return to live in Ukraine after fleeing her country and the war in 2024 to live in the United States.
Two years later, working as a truck driver in the US, Karina Krainova reversed course at the beginning of 2026 due to stricter rules on commercial driver’s licenses for immigrant drivers.
“Being treated like other immigrants”
Krainova also entered the US in 2024 under a Biden administration program that offered refuge to hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians, but did not guarantee residency rights for life.
With the arrival of Donald Trump and his stricter immigration policy, Krainova was targeted. Last fall, her American driver’s license, obtained in January 2025, was suddenly canceled in South Carolina, nearly a year before its official expiration date, all because of her immigrant status.
To avoid ending up in a now-famous ICE detention center, Karina Krainova hurriedly returned to Ukraine from Odessa. “I preferred to go back home to my husband rather than end up in detention for months and be treated like other immigrants,” she told the Guardian.
Now back in the midst of war, Krainova describes the ongoing challenges of daily life. “Trams and buses are still out of service for another month, and sadly, there are numerous attacks on residential buildings where civilians live,” she says. But for her, it’s still better than a detention center.
