Guno צְבִי
We fight, We win, Am Yisrael Chai
On the San Francisco Bay waterfront, Oksana Demidenko walks through Rosie the Riveter Memorial Park, looking at photos of the female factory workers who built World War II Liberty ships here in the 1940s.
"It's hard work, very physical work," says Demidenko, 56, a Ukrainian nurse who came to California to escape the Russian bombardment of Kiev in 2022. She says "the Rosies" remind her of the women helping the war effort in Ukraine. "Rosie the Riveter, from the start of the war, she inspired people in Ukraine. She was in chats, blogs, everywhere."
Walking with her is Mary Wogec, a public health administrator who sponsored Demidenko through a humanitarian program called Uniting for Ukraine, and invited her – and her four cats – to live in her home. Wogec says she signed up to be a sponsor after watching Ukrainians fleeing as the Russian invasion unfolded.
"I just can't imagine having my life uprooted like that," she says. "[But] what I've seen, first of all, is amazing resilience."
Last year, Demidenko was granted Temporary Protected Status, known as TPS by the U.S. It provides a shield from deportation, and a work permit, although it doesn't represent permanent legal status.
Although aching over having to leave her mother behind in Ukraine, Demidenko says she feels welcome in the U.S. – and safe.
But with President-elect Donald Trump returning to the White House next month, Demidenko is worried her protection could soon end. Trump has vowed a massive deportation campaign and sharp immigration restrictions, including slashing the TPS program, as he tried to do during his first term at the White House.
She is one of nearly 900,000 people from 16 countries, including 50,000 from Ukraine, with Temporary Protected Status.
The program was established by Congress as part of the Immigration Act of 1990 for immigrants living in the U.S. whose home countries are experiencing armed conflict, natural disasters or other "extraordinary conditions."
Both Democratic and Republican administrations have offered TPS to people from countries in crisis. Protections last from six to 18 months and the government can renew them – or terminate them – depending on country conditions
www.kpbs.org
"It's hard work, very physical work," says Demidenko, 56, a Ukrainian nurse who came to California to escape the Russian bombardment of Kiev in 2022. She says "the Rosies" remind her of the women helping the war effort in Ukraine. "Rosie the Riveter, from the start of the war, she inspired people in Ukraine. She was in chats, blogs, everywhere."
Walking with her is Mary Wogec, a public health administrator who sponsored Demidenko through a humanitarian program called Uniting for Ukraine, and invited her – and her four cats – to live in her home. Wogec says she signed up to be a sponsor after watching Ukrainians fleeing as the Russian invasion unfolded.
"I just can't imagine having my life uprooted like that," she says. "[But] what I've seen, first of all, is amazing resilience."
Last year, Demidenko was granted Temporary Protected Status, known as TPS by the U.S. It provides a shield from deportation, and a work permit, although it doesn't represent permanent legal status.
Although aching over having to leave her mother behind in Ukraine, Demidenko says she feels welcome in the U.S. – and safe.
But with President-elect Donald Trump returning to the White House next month, Demidenko is worried her protection could soon end. Trump has vowed a massive deportation campaign and sharp immigration restrictions, including slashing the TPS program, as he tried to do during his first term at the White House.
She is one of nearly 900,000 people from 16 countries, including 50,000 from Ukraine, with Temporary Protected Status.
The program was established by Congress as part of the Immigration Act of 1990 for immigrants living in the U.S. whose home countries are experiencing armed conflict, natural disasters or other "extraordinary conditions."
Both Democratic and Republican administrations have offered TPS to people from countries in crisis. Protections last from six to 18 months and the government can renew them – or terminate them – depending on country conditions
Immigrants with Temporary Protected Status fear deportation as Trump returns
A nurse who fled Russia's bombardment of Ukraine says she fears losing the protections that allow her to live and work in the U.S.
www.kpbs.org
