About three dozen would-be asylum seekers from Russia found themselves blocked from entering the US on Friday while a group of Ukrainians flashed passports and were escorted across the border.
The scene reflected a quiet, but unmistakable shift in the differing treatment of Russians and Ukrainians who enter Mexico as tourists and fly to Tijuana, hoping to enter the US for a chance at asylum.
The Russians — 34 as of Friday — had been camped several days at the busiest US border crossing with Mexico, two days after local officials gently them to leave.
Photo: Reuters
They sat on mats and blankets, checking smartphones, chatting and snacking, with sleeping bags and strollers nearby as a stream of pedestrian border crossers filed past them. Five young girls sat and talked in a circle, some with stuffed animals.
Days earlier, some Russians were being admitted to the US at the San Ysidro crossing, while some Ukrainians were blocked, but by Friday, Russians were denied while Ukrainians were admitted after short waits.
“It’s very hard to understand how they make decisions,” said Irina Zolinka, a 40-year-old Russian woman who camped overnight with her family of seven after arriving in Tijuana on Thursday.
Erika Pinheiro, litigation and policy director for advocacy group Al Otro Lado, said the US on Tuesday began admitting all Ukrainians on humanitarian parole for one year, while at the same time blocking all Russians.
There was no official announcement.
A US Department of Homeland Security memo dated Friday last week that was not publicly released until Thursday told border officials that Ukrainians might be exempt from sweeping asylum limits designed to prevent spread of COVID-19.
It said decisions are to be made case-by-case for Ukrainians, but made no mention of Russians.
“The Department of Homeland Security recognizes that the unjustified Russian war of aggression in Ukraine has created a humanitarian crisis,” the memo said.
The department said in a statement on Friday that anyone deemed “particularly vulnerable” may be admitted for humanitarian reasons on a case-by-case review, regardless of nationality.
Russian migrants in Tijuana sat off to the side of a line of hundreds of border residents waiting to walk across the border to San Diego on Friday. The line was unimpeded.
A 32-year-old Russian migrant who had not left the border crossing since arriving in Tijuana with his wife about five days earlier had no plans to leave, fearing that he might miss any sudden opportunity.
Within hours of arriving, the migrant, who identified himself only as Mark because he feared for his family’s safety in Russia, said he saw three Russian migrants admitted to the US.
However, US authorities returned his passport after six hours and told him only Ukrainians were being admitted, he said.
He fled shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Mark said.
“Ukrainians and Russians are suffering because of one man,” Mark said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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