Thousands of Russians and Ukrainians have sought asylum in the United States over the past year, buying cheap disposable cars in Mexico hoping to get asylum on the southern border – and more is expected, since Vladimir PutinRussian troops are advancing into Ukraine.
About 6,400 Russians and 1,000 Ukrainians were detained by the customs and border guards at the southern border between October 2021 and January. This is 64% more for Russians and 68% more for Ukrainians compared to the same period last year.
About 4,100 Russians and 680 Ukrainians were detained in fiscal year 2021 from October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021, according to CBP.
Migrants arriving on foot are often returned, but those who can get a car are less likely to be caught. Armed with this knowledge, Ukrainians and Russians are snapping up used cars hoping to get across the border, which former US Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott said was a way to “jump the line.”
Most of the migrants from the two countries have been allowed to remain in the US as long as they claim their rights.
All Russian migrants arrived in the US prior to the February 24 invasion, but current and former border guards who spoke to Reuters said on condition of anonymity that there could be a further increase as the fighting intensified.
Most of the more than a million refugees have left Ukraine since Putin’s “special operation” of tanks, troops and missiles invaded Ukraine. Most of them have been absorbed by their Eastern European neighbors, but these countries will only be able to take in so many refugees before they are forced to reject the rest.
Dmitry Zubarev, a civil rights lawyer and Russian dissident, told Reuters how he got to the US through the southern border with Mexico.
The Biden administration has offered 18 months of temporary deportation protection to Ukrainians who have been in the US since March 1.
Migrants arriving on foot are often returned, but those who can get a car are less likely to be caught
Migrants from Ukraine and Russia share tips on social networks on how to get to the US through Mexico
The Biden administration has offered 18 months of temporary deportation protection to Ukrainians who have been in the US since March 1.
Before the invasion, Russians were among the top three most popular nationalities showing up at the San Diego hideout, according to the San Diego Rapid Response Network. According to the organization, Ukrainians moved into the top three last week.
“Repression is intensifying and people who come out to protest the war are being treated very harshly,” Dmitry Zubarev, a civil rights lawyer and Russian dissident, told Reuters.
Zubarev told Reuters that in June 2021 he boarded a plane from Moscow to Cancun, Mexico, then flew to Tijuana on the US border, where he boarded a minibus with 11 other migrants.
As soon as he crossed the border, he said that he asked for asylum, and he was released to continue his work. Zubarev currently resides in Connecticut.
“There will be more people trying to use the refugee routes to avoid the bad situation in the country,” he said.
Last week, a border agent at the San Ysidro border crossing between San Diego and Tijuana stopped more than 20 vehicles carrying Ukrainians and Russians, according to California Democratic Congressman Lou Correa.
“This problem will not go away,” Correa said.
CBP said in December that 18 Russian migrants were racing to the San Ysidro port of entry in two cars, according to Reuters.
According to a December 14 CBP statement, a CBP officer fired at the vehicles, hitting one that collided with another.
According to the agency, two migrants received minor head injuries. At the same time, a third car with eight Russian citizens entered the United States, the report said.
Currently, Russian troops are trying to encircle Kyiv and are moving forward in the northeast and southeast.
Refugees, mostly women with children, arrive at a border crossing in Medyka, Poland, on Sunday.
Refugees at a border crossing in Poland wrap themselves in blankets as they try to keep warm as they flee the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
A young woman clutches a doll after fleeing Ukraine at a border crossing in Medyka, Poland, Saturday.
Potential migrants from Ukraine and Russia are exchanging tips on social media on how to get to the southern border of the United States through Mexico in order to obtain asylum.
They describe routes and share names and contact numbers that can help them purchase cars.
In a recent exchange in a Russian-language Telegram group viewed by Reuters, a chat member said that “assistants” charge at least $1,500 per person to provide a car. Another tried to find a place in the car for his Ukrainian mother.
Life in both Russia and Ukraine has become more difficult since the war began.
Russian forces have intensified shelling of the port city of Mariupol, including with aircraft, the mayor said Saturday evening.
“The city is in a very, very difficult state of siege,” Vadym Boychenko told Ukrainian television. “There is a merciless shelling of residential buildings, aircraft are dropping bombs on residential areas.”
Boychenko said that thousands of children, women and the elderly came under fire when they arrived in the morning for possible evacuation through the safe passage corridor. Russia promised to stop shelling Mariupol, a port city of 430,000, and Volnovakha, a city to the east, but violated the ceasefire.
Both sides were mired in long-range artillery warfare on the outskirts of Kyiv, which put workers in towns like Bucha and Irpin in the line of fire.
But people who have fled the two cities say their resolve to stay was dashed when Russian warplanes began circling overhead and dropping bombs on Friday.
“Military aircraft. They are bombing residential areas – schools, churches, big houses, everything,” said accountant Natalia Dydenko, glancing at the destruction she left behind.
The 58-year-old man was one of the thousands who walked with their children and whatever they could carry along the road leading into the center of Kyiv and away from the front.
Meanwhile, tough sanctions have devastated the Russian economy, and President Vladimir Putin has arrested thousands of dissidents protesting the war.
The Russian embassy, in an emailed statement, said it was “very concerned” about what it described as the “detention” of alleged Russian citizens at the US-Mexico border near San Diego and that it had contacted the US State Department to verify their identities. .
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.