Ukrainians flee to the USA across the Mexican border: how they are met and why they anger human rights activists - ForumDaily
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Ukrainians flee to the US across the Mexican border: how they are met and why they anger human rights activists

Not far from the border crossing in Tijuana, Mexico, there is a makeshift camp for Ukrainian and Russian refugees fleeing an invasion they couldn't bear. Where refugees go and what they hope to find there The Guardian.

Photo: Shutterstock

After 24 February and until 25 April, Mexico was the penultimate stop on their journey; Tijuana is a two- or three-day respite on the way to something better, something safer, where their children can gradually return to normal life after the war turned their lives upside down.

These displaced families fleeing to the US are spreading across the country, staying with friends and relatives, applying for food stamps and Social Security cards, and enrolling their children in school. Although they are much further in their resettlement than asylum seekers from Mexico, Central America and Haiti, who have been waiting years for the same opportunity, these newcomers still face many obstacles.

“Here in the US, everything is different,” says Anastasia Puzhalina, a Ukrainian who arrived in the States in early April with her family. “We have a lot to learn. I hope we can get through this."

Since the beginning of the invasion of the aggressor, more than 5,2 million people have left Ukraine; another 7,7 million people fled their homes but remained in the country. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, more than 1000 educational institutions were attacked.

The Russian invasion was chaotic, surprisingly inept, and unbearably brutal, often targeting civilians. Thousands of dead (the exact number is a matter of dispute and may not be known for many years), hundreds are found in mass graves. Women and girls are subjected to sexual violence. All this forces families to leave at any opportunity.

Dozens of Ukrainian and Russian-speaking volunteers, many of whom have flown in from the US to help, greet Ukrainians and direct them to the front desk, where a friendly woman assigns each person, couple, or family a number. They are called by this number and sent to the USA in the order of priority.

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Other aid workers will take them to the next stop, often the San Diego International Airport.

This is exactly what Puzhalina was waiting for. She listened attentively to each number, looking forward to her 2567. Sitting in the partial shade of a palm tree, she said that the family felt safe in the camp, although they had been told not to go into the city. Tijuana, with a population of 1,3 million, had 2021 murders in 1972. For comparison, in New York there were 485 of them, although the population there is more than six times larger.

The family did not stay in Mexico for long - a few days later they flew to Tacoma (Washington).

Anatoly Basarsky, 37, from Chernivtsi, has not yet decided where he and his family will move. Wherever they happen to settle, they intend to immediately enroll their 10-year-old son Arthur in school so that he can learn English. Basarsky is worried about the fifth-grader getting accustomed.

“Because of the language barrier and different groups of kids, I’m worried that he will be bullied,” he suggests.

Arthur has already found playmates when he arrives at camp in early April and hopes to do the same in the States.

He believed that his American school would be better than in Ukraine, with better and more modern conditions. An athlete with aspirations to become a dentist, he doesn't worry about assimilation. “I'm sure everyone will be kind,” he said. “Everyone will become my friends.”

His father hopes that his son will be right, because the family plans to stay in the US forever.

“We want to live in America permanently,” Basarsky remarked.

Other asylum seekers were not given such priority.

Mexican, Central American and Haitian refugees escaping banditry and poverty in their countries have not been offered the fast-track route provided for Ukrainians, although they have been waiting at the border for years.

Immigrant advocates recognize inequality and desire the same treatment for everyone.

“I believe that everyone who has a legal basis and fears for their lives should be granted the right to enter the United States. It doesn't matter what country you come from," said Norma Pimentel, executive director of a Catholic charity in the Rio Grande Valley in south Texas. Her organization has served hundreds of thousands of people crossing the border in recent years.

But it's not. Recently, US President Joe Biden, who has already promised to accept 100 Ukrainian refugees, announced the Unite for Ukraine accelerated immigration program, which will allow those fleeing the country to arrive in the US directly from Europe, bypassing Mexico. They must be in Ukraine as of February 000, have a sponsor who can provide them with financial support (this can be an individual or an organization), receive vaccinations and other public health requirements, and pass a background check. The new policy went into effect on April 11.

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Most of them will receive two years of residency and a US work permit.

Those who continue to attempt to enter the US through Mexico are subject to Section 42 (pending proceedings in Mexico due to a public health threat), but this may not last long. The restriction is due to be lifted on May 23, although lawmakers on both sides fear the southern border is not ready for the influx: tens of thousands of people are waiting to enter.

US Customs and Border Protection has reported almost 15 Ukrainian and Russian refugees since the beginning of the year. During the same period, more than 000 asylum seekers from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti and Honduras were registered.

Children from Ukrainian families are starting to enroll in national schools: for example, in South Carolina there are 101 more Ukrainians and 29 more Russians than at the same time last year.

School districts in South Carolina that have asked the state for help in enrolling new students have been reminded of their legal obligation to quickly enroll these students. They know that some of these students have been traumatized and believe that because of the pandemic, schools are probably better equipped to help them.

And eligible South Carolina school districts will see increased funding for all new immigrants, regardless of their country of origin.

“We want them to feel appreciated,” said Susan Murphy, who serves multilingual students at the state level.

Oksana Bevzenko, who came to Mexico from Kyiv with three children aged 17, 14 and 4, planned to move to Spartanburg (South Carolina).

When asked what she wanted for her children in America, she had only one request: peace.

Anastasia Puzhalina, who now lives in Tacoma, has already enrolled her children in the school. Her 10-year-old son, Ilya, is worried that he will be misunderstood because he does not speak English.

“I'm afraid that someone will treat me unfriendly because I'm a refugee,” he said during an interview at the camp. “I would like to have at least one Ukrainian or Russian-speaking child in my class so that I feel comfortable.”

The children went to school on April 21st.

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“They really enjoyed the first day,” their mother said. They remembered the names of their teachers, but they did not remember some of the names of their new friends, because they sound completely different from what the children are used to. Lunch they liked: burgers and chocolate milk. To them, it sounds like a dream meal. They take English lessons most of the time. They have everything, like in American cinema.”

It is difficult to compare these images with the horror that the family experienced just a few weeks ago.

Food was running out, and local markets in Puzhalina's hometown of Slavutych, near the border with Belarus, were empty. And soon there was no gas, then electricity. The family was forced to cook all the food at once - in the open air, on a fire from firewood collected in a nearby forest.

They had no internet, no working cell phones, no way to watch or hear the news about what was going on all over Slavutych. The area surrounding them has already been bombed, important bridges have been destroyed.

She waited until she couldn't hear the bombs falling in the distance. Just at that moment, a neighbor knocked on her door to inform her that some families in her area were preparing to leave.

“At that point, I had already packed our bags and we left,” she said.

After two days of travel, on March 15 they crossed the Polish border. Puzhalina's sister took them in for a week before they left for Germany, where they lived with another relative for almost 14 days.

Puzhalina's brother-in-law helped the family buy tickets from Frankfurt to Amsterdam, to Mexico City, and finally to Tijuana, where they arrived on April 7th.

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