Ukrainian woman detained at border in maximum security prison as MS-13 gang members allowed in US

According to a video posted to YouTube on July 4, Oleksandra Bronova, a Ukrainian national legally married to Marine veteran Bryan Price, is locked up in a maximum security prison for attempting to enter the country. Meanwhile, TPNN notes, known members of the notorious MS-13 gang have been granted entrance into America after illegally crossing the border, and as we reported in late June, the administration has admitted releasing illegal immigrants into the interior of the country.

KFOX-14 reported that Bronova is a native of southeast Ukraine. She graduated from Cambridge University and speaks five languages. Unlike the MS-13 gang members being allowed into the country, she has no criminal history.

Price said that after her family fled Ukraine he began to feel concerned for her safety, and leased a house for her in Juarez, where he lived at the time and where she had a visitor’s permit. From there, he said, the two of them could work on processing her U.S. visa paperwork.

A friend reportedly told them she would most likely be allowed to enter the country, due to the huge wave of Central Americans being allowed in.

“He gave us some advice that he felt with her having the status of being married to a U.S. citizen, he felt if we went to the Santa Teresa bridge the following morning, there was a very strong possibility they would grant her entry early,” Price told KFOX. “He said worst-case scenario they’ll just send you back.”

So the couple showed up at the border with their marriage license and a binder full of documents. But, Price said, things “started to go wrong very quickly” as border agents immediately pulled them into a secondary room.

“They started to ask, ‘Well, why didn’t she finish her documents in the Ukraine?’ And I said, ‘Well, there’s a war in her region. That’s the reason why.’ And they started asking us why she just couldn’t return and I said, ‘Well, there’s still battling going on to this day there,'” Price said. “She was then handcuffed and taken into another room.”

About an hour or so later, Price added, agents said they had decided to detain Bronova. Not unexpectedly, agents initially took her to the El Paso processing facility, but later transferred her to Otero Prison.

“Well, this is where things started to go very bad,” Price said. According to Price, his wife was transferred because the facilities at El Paso were filled to capacity.

He drove to the prison and saw her, shackled and chained. That was the last time he saw her.

“She was already shaken. When she came in the room it was (tears). I mean she was shaking and crying,” he said.

Price was told he could only see her one time a week. She was also forbidden from making any telephone calls.

“This is the first time I’ve seen a female get taken to Otero, it is a prison; it’s not an ICE detention center and I think we’re starting to see all the repercussions of all these people coming into the country. Things like this – Otero – is the overflow,” said immigration attorney Cynthia Lopez.

Price said they weren’t expecting any special treatment, but he didn’t expect to see his wife thrown in prison with murderers and rapists.

“I’m shocked, as a U.S. veteran and a former Marine that has fought for this country, I’m appalled,” he added.

Bronova’s case will now be referred to an asylum office in Houston, where they’ll decide whether she will be allowed to stay in the country or not. KFOX said it questioned federal authorities why Bronova — a woman with no criminal history — was thrown in prison while many others were not. Authorities said they would respond once Bronova signs a privacy waiver, which she did.

KFOX said it obtained that waiver and is awaiting response from federal authorities. The video report can be seen here.

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