America’s Ukrainian Refugee Dilemma

Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine has sparked an influx of refugees across Europe, but by early March it was clear that the spread of this humanitarian crisis wouldn’t remain limited to Europe. Ukrainian migrants fleeing their war-torn land started arriving in Tijuana around March 10, said Enrique Lucero, director at the city’s Migrant Attention Center. Within two days that number had swelled to over 6,000. U.S. border authorities swiftly began processing their entry into the country. As word spread, many more made their way to Tijuana’s San Ysidro border checkpoint, the busiest port of entry to the U.S. from Mexico.

This initial flood of migrants arrived more than three weeks before President Joe Biden declared that the U.S. would “welcome 100,000 Ukrainian refugees,” and six weeks before the April 21 launch of Uniting for Ukraine, a Department of Homeland Security program to follow through on that promise. As the number of refugees arriving in Tijuana from Ukraine continued to swell, their presence sparked tensions and questions over the apparently different standards employed by U.S. border authorities.

U.S. officials initially processed paperwork for Ukrainian refugees with a sense of urgency and at a rate of about 90 each day, said Lucero. Such urgency is often missing when it comes to Mexican or Central American migrants, said Josiane Moukam, an organizer at Espacio Migrante, which supports migrants in Tijuana. Most of the more than 5,000 Latin American and other non-European migrants waiting in that city do not know when, or if, they’ll be allowed in. Lucero told OZY that the average wait time can now extend to years because of Title 42, a March 2020 public health restriction on the entry of migrants enacted by former President Donald Trump amid COVID-19, and continued by Biden. Before Title 42 they would be processed in two weeks, on average, according to Lucero.

Title 42 applies to Ukrainian asylum seekers, too, but there’s a caveat: Border officials can examine each application on a case-by-case basis and offer exemptions to Ukrainians. Such a caveat does not exist for others. The result? In February, when the Russian invasion began, only one Ukrainian was expelled citing Title 42, out of an initial set of 272 applicants encountered by Customs and Border Patrol at the border. In contrast, around two-thirds of all Guatemalan, Honduran and El Salvadoran migrants at the same border were pushed back, citing Title 42. “All migrants need help to be able to cross the border with the same rights,” said Moukam.

More than 1 million Ukrainian Americans live in the U.S., with over a third of them residing in New York, California and Pennsylvania. Immediately after Ukrainian asylum seekers began arriving in Tijuana, a group of Ukrainian American volunteers traveled to the Mexican border to help their compatriots escaping war. “We had never seen organizations come, stay with them overnight, bring them food, pick them up from the airport, and do all of this work for migrants here,” Lucero told OZY.

At 62 million, the Latino population of the U.S. is 60 times that of the Ukrainian American community, but you wouldn’t know that at the border with Mexico. “It’s a cultural difference. It taught us a lesson and it serves as an example for our communities in the U.S. — we have never seen a community of Mexicans or Guatemalans, Hondurans or Salvadorans living in the U.S. come and support the displaced,” said Lucero. According to him, the largest shelter for non-European migrants in Tijuana is located inside a church called Embajadores de Jesus, and is mostly operated with help from local volunteers and non-governmental organizations.

As Ukrainian refugees started arriving, they were put up in a different shelter. It was there that Ukrainian American volunteers arrived to assist them, said Lucero. “The municipality only did the basics, but all of the logistics were carried out 24/7 by Ukrainian volunteers — we had never seen that here, either,” he said. He noted that the people working with migrants at the border were impressed by how well-organized the Ukrainian American volunteers were.

For at least four decades, millions of people from conflict-battered countries in Central America have actively sought a better life by migrating to the U.S. Many make a journey of thousands of miles by land to the U.S.-Mexico border that takes months, often braving physical and sexual violence en route. Once there, they do not have access to expedited entry into the U.S. as refugees.

At the Houston restaurant where Mario, an undocumented migrant, once worked, he earned $300 in tips on a single night in November 2016. But Trump’s election that month changed everything. Mario had crossed into the U.S. illegally and has since been deported back to Guatemala. Mario is not his real name — he spoke on the condition of anonymity. But the relatively better treatment that Ukrainian migrants have received has touched a raw nerve for him. “I wish I could have experienced just a tiny fraction of how well they were treated,” he told OZY.

Ukrainian refugees seeking to enter the U.S. face substantial challenges. For some, the Uniting for Ukraine program has complicated their plans. The program is only open to those who were residing in Ukraine as of Feb. 11, although the threat of war had already made many flee by then. Under the initiative, asylum seekers must apply from Europe, Mexico or other nations, but cannot apply at the Tijuana border crossing. That poses a challenge for those who had already made plans to arrive at the border and are now being turned away.

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Activists remain concerned about the preferential treatment given to Ukrainian refugees over those from other parts of the world. The Biden administration did not offer any exemptions from Title 42 to refugees fleeing wars in Syria or Yemen, or those who had to leave Afghanistan last year after America’s chaotic exit from that country, which also coincided with tight COVID-19 restrictions. This discrepancy persists today, as Ukrainian refugees can seek exemptions from Title 42 in ways that others running away from war-scarred lands cannot.

Is an unfair immigration system effectively perpetuating humanitarian crises by forcing people with genuine claims for amnesty to cross borders illegally? Consider the data: Since March 2020, some 1.7 million migrants have been deported by border authorities because of Title 42. Most of the deportees are non-European. In April alone, U.S. border officials encountered a record 234,088 migrants attempting to enter illegally. Of that total, 53.6% were Mexican, Honduran, Guatemalan or Salvadoran.

According to activists working at the border, the answer isn’t to treat Ukrainian refugees with any less empathy and care. In fact, they deserve even more aid than they’ve received so far. What’s missing, said Josiane Moukam, is the political will on the part of the U.S. government to adopt a similar approach to all migrants. “All are human beings,” she told OZY. “What is the difference? None. They should all be treated the same.”

How should the U.S. respond to the many immigration requests from refugees around the world?

Share your thoughts with us at OzyCommunity@Ozy.com.