Vladymyr Ostapchuk and his family walked up to the U.S. border with Mexico on Sunday afternoon to ask for asylum, the final border they would cross after a multicountry trip over 20 days that started as Russian military forces invaded their native Ukraine last month.
Mr. Ostapchuk, a 33-year-old construction worker from Vinnytsia, fled Ukraine by land through Moldova with his two children, his wife, and her brother’s family of four. They traveled through several countries before making their way to Germany, then on to Cancún, Mexico, and later Tijuana, just over the border from San Diego. Once in the U.S., they planned on heading to Vancouver, Wash., to reunite with relatives living there.
“I feel safe, better,” Mr. Ostapchuk said through a translator after he and his family arrived at the border crossing. A few hours later, they were allowed to enter the U.S.
Mr. Ostapchuk and his family are among thousands of Ukrainians and Russians fleeing war and sanctions, who are increasingly using Mexico as a transit point as they try to migrate to the U.S. Most choose this route because they don’t need a visa to fly directly to Mexico, unlike the U.S. Once they make it to a U.S. land border, they can ask for asylum and often begin the legal process, which sometimes takes years, inside the U.S. instead of in a faraway country.
Arrivals of Russian nationals and Ukrainian refugees have increased in Mexico in recent months. In January and February alone some 30,111 Russians arrived in Mexico, compared with a full-year average of 12,380 during each of the past five years, according to Mexican immigration data.
The number of Ukrainians visiting Mexico has also surged during the same period to 10,031 during January and February, compared with a full-year average of 4,078. While entering as tourists, most are likely heading to the U.S., Mexican immigration officials say.
The U.S.-Mexico border remains officially closed to asylum seekers under a public-health rule meant to help curb the spread of Covid-19, but immigration officers working at border crossings were told last week that because of the war they were free to offer exemptions to Ukrainian refugees. --->READ MORE HERE
The U.S. will accept up to 100,000 Ukrainians who have fled the violence and attacks on their home country by Russian forces in the weeks since it invaded, the White House said Thursday.
News of the Biden administration's plans to welcome the Ukrainians into the U.S. came as President Biden meets with allies in Brussels as part of broader efforts with NATO and European Union partners to continue its coordinated response to Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine.
More than 3.6 million refugees have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded the country in late February, and more than half of the country's children have been displaced, according to United Nations refugee and children's agencies. More than 2.1 million people have flooded into Poland seeking to escape the bombardment by Russian forces, while another more than 500,000 left for Romania.
The war has prompted the fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.
To bolster its humanitarian efforts, the U.S. will also contribute another $1 billion in aid to assist displaced Ukrainians, according to the White House, and commit $11 billion over the next five years to address global food security concerns due to the war's potential impacts on agricultural production. --->READ MORE HEREFollow link below to a related story :
Thousands of Ukrainians, Russians head to US-Mexico border to claim asylum: report
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