A New Surge of Ukrainians at U.S. - Mexico Border

The following information has been derived from the NY Times Article titled, A New Surge of Ukrainians at U.S. Border. "More than 2,000 have reached the U.S. border with Mexico, where an expected spike in migration from other countries will raise tough questions: Who gets priority?" The Ukrainian arrivals in Tijuana prove to be an immediate challenge to U.S. border officials. Officials are already expecting a flood of unauthorized migration from countries such as Honduras and Haiti when the U.S. eases its emergency Covid-19 border rules next month. Now, the United States must determine a way to immediately accommodate thousands of people fleeing a murderous Russian invasion halfway around the world. Across the border you can see many Ukrainian families sitting in folding chairs trying to stay warm, beside a coiled-wire fence that separates Mexico from the United States. It had taken most of them three days to reach the front of the line from which U.S. officials were calling in Ukrainians for entry interviews. "Only a week ago, just 50 Ukrainian refugees who had flown to Mexico were in the teeming border city of Tijuana, crammed in a small, tunnel-like bus stop until they could enter the United States. Within four days, the backup had ballooned to 500, and a makeshift encampment had sprung up on a patch of grass. By Sunday, as plane after plane disgorged bedraggled war refugees in Tijuana, the number had soared to close to 1,200, about 400 of them sleeping in a gym." Here is where the discrepancies between other refugees begin to be more evident: “It was on the news that the United States is offering asylum,” said Marvin Francisco, 29, from Honduras, who had heard about the impending end of Title 42. “My country is infested with gangsters.”

The Hondurans were allowed to sit on the grass, but they were offered none of the pastries, juice and coffee being handed out around the clock to the Ukrainians. Read full article HERE