MOORPARK, Calif. — His search for the perfect ballroom dance partner led 23-year-old Nikolas Constantine to travel over 6,000 miles from Ventura County to meet Kateryna Osminina, a dancer from Ukraine.

“After one dance, I knew it was the right girl,” he said.

The couple spent seven months together in Ukraine, training with the best ballroom dance professionals in the world. But their dream of taking their talent to international competitions was interrupted when Russian forces invaded Ukraine.

“Nikolas was nervous and wanted to leave Ukraine,” said Osminina.

Against her parents’ will, Osminina left her hometown of Melitopol, one of the first cities occupied by Russian troops at the start of the invasion. She says her family is among the thousands of civilians who refused to evacuate and now have limited access to food, medical care and cell service.

“I’m so worried about my parents,” Osminina said. “It’s so bad there sometimes I can’t speak with them.”

However, on her journey to seeking asylum in California with Constantine, her parents were the ones growing worried.

U.S. embassies shuttered across Russia and Ukraine in the days before the invasion, and Osminina believes her visa application is stuck in the backlog.

After consulting with an immigration attorney in New York City, the couple boarded a flight from Ukraine to Mexico, where they could both enter without a visa.

Once they landed in Tijuana on March 3, Constantine’s mother, Chrysana Constantine, picked them up from the airport. From there, the plan was to drive to the Otay Mesa Port of Entry near the San Diego-Mexico border, where Osminina could legally seek asylum in the U.S.

When they approached border patrol agents and identified Osminina as a Ukrainian refugee, the trio was arrested and detained.

“[Agents] confiscated our passports and cell phones,” Chrysana said. “They immediately escorted [Osminina] out of the car and into some building, and we never saw her again after that.”

The Constantines were released within a few hours. Osminina was held in a Customs and Border Protection detention center for two weeks. They say she had no communication with them, her family or her attorney.

Osminina noted that this was the case for the dozens of other Ukrainians packed in the jail with her.

“It was a small room with like 24 [Ukrainian] people sleeping close to each other on the floor. [Officers] only gave us silver blankets. People coming in after two days started feeling sick because it was so cold and underground,” she said. “I wore the same clothes the entire time. We could only shower once a week, and were fed three small meals a day. When we asked for help, there was no information about our paperwork or our future.”

Back at home in Moorpark, the Constantines were doing all they could to find her. Ultimately, it was the help of Rep. Julia Brownley — who reached out to the Department of Homeland Security — that Osminina’s case was expedited.

In a statement from Brownley’s office, the congresswoman said: “As a democracy under siege, Ukraine and the Ukrainian people deserve our utmost support and aid – that includes helping Ukrainians fleeing their war-torn country settle in the United States. When I was contacted about Osminina’s attempt to enter the U.S. and being held by Customs and Border patrol without access to a lawyer, I immediately reached out to the White House to see what could be done to assist her. While we need to do better to treat all those legally seeking refuge or asylum in the United States with the respect our laws and our values require, I am pleased the situation was resolved quickly and that Osminina was able to be released and reunited with her loved ones.”

Osminina was transferred from CBP custody to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for a final immigration interview. However, the caveat was that she was handcuffed and flown to an ICE facility in Louisiana, instead of San Diego.

“I felt like a criminal,” she said.

A little less than 24 hours later, Osminina was released from ICE custody, and the Constantines spent about $1,000 to book her a one-way flight back to California from Louisiana.

On March 17, after what seemed like an eternity apart, Osminina finally reunited with the Constantines at LAX airport.

Immigration lawyer Joe Porta explained that unfortunately, this is the risk many asylum seekers face when legally turning themselves in at the southern border.

“A lot of [the process] has to do with who you’re dealing with and the specific individual,” Porta said. “There’s no consistency in the recipe. It allows varied results depending on who’s handling it and where it’s handled. There should be a lot more uniformity.”

Porta added that there are several discretionary factors that come into play that make seeking asylum in the U.S. tricky. He advises refugees to turn themselves in at the border with the proper paperwork and identification. But Porta also forewarns clients that CBP handles each person who approaches the border on a case-by-case basis.

How long a migrant is detained can depend on how strict the officer on duty is, the personnel availability that day or the capacity at the holding facility.

The legal limit CBP can hold an immigrant in detention should not exceed 72 hours. However, since 2019, the average length of detention exceeded one week.

In March, the Tijuana Migrant Affairs Office reported an influx in Ukrainians at the border after President Joe Biden announced the U.S. would support NATO countries in welcoming Ukrainian refugees.

“It would be nice to set an actual policy because [Biden] is saying we’d welcome [Ukrainian refugees] with open arms, but that was not our experience,” said Chrysana.

“[Ukrainians] are coming here to get help. We should help them, not lock them up in small rooms and cages and treat them like animals,” Nikolas said.

Through it all, Osminina never lost the fire burning within her to dance.

“I hope everything goes well with my country, and I want to, of course, go back and dance there.”

Since her release, Osminina was granted humanitarian parole to stay in the U.S. She is now waiting to receive a deportation hearing but also hoping her U.S. visa application will eventually be processed.