Will US extend speedy Ukrainian refugee welcome to others?
| Tijuana, Mexico
On a recent sunny afternoon, two refugees sat in shelters a few blocks apart, not far from the U.S. border. Both women had fled a sudden onslaught of violence that upended their lives. Both had flown to Tijuana hoping to enter the United States. Neither knew what to expect.
Only one of them 鈥� Kristina from Ukraine 鈥� would be given refuge in the U.S.
Graciela, from Mexico, has spent the past three months sleeping in a crowded tent in a migrant shelter, waiting for a chance to present her asylum claim to U.S. officials. She鈥檚 still there.
Why We Wrote This
While Central American asylum-seekers are blocked at the U.S. border, Ukrainian refugees have been whisked through. Could that discrimination have a silver lining?
She says it鈥檚 hard to beat back feelings of jealousy. 鈥淚 hope they make it to their destination,鈥� she says of the vanloads of Ukrainian refugees she鈥檚 seen ferried past her shelter by volunteers. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 hard not to wonder: Why them and not us?鈥�
Kristina, an aspiring athletic-wear designer, knows nothing of Graciela鈥檚 fate. She has not stepped foot outside her shelter since she arrived. But she knows she鈥檚 fortunate to have escaped Odesa, where a family of acquaintances was killed in a Russian missile attack last month.
鈥淚 hope in the U.S. I finally feel safe,鈥� she says. As a Ukrainian, she was exempted from the COVID-19 rule holding Graciela back.听
The two women鈥檚 stories illustrate a glaring disparity in the ways U.S. border authorities treat different refugees. But, some see a silver lining in Kristina鈥檚 experience, and that of thousands of her compatriots.
U.S. border officials have for years explained the long delays facing Graciela and people like her from Central America, Haiti, and elsewhere in Latin America, by a lack of staff. Now, 鈥渢here is no justification for 鈥� saying the resources don鈥檛 exist. It鈥檚 only about where resources are directed,鈥� says Soraya V谩zquez, deputy director of the Tijuana branch of Al Otro Lado, a legal aid organization.
鈥淲ith the arrival of the Ukrainians we saw they only have to choose to put those resources toward the situation at the border.鈥�
听
鈥淐ompletely stressed鈥�
Graciela woke up earlier this year to the shouted orders of armed men. Her family was forced out of their home by strangers dressed in what looked like police uniforms, but without any official insignias. The men burned down her home, and the houses on either side of it, kidnapped her husband and two neighbors, and left.听
鈥淲ho were they? What did they want?鈥� she asks, squeezing the hand of her granddaughter who sits beside her on a folding chair at the back of a Tijuana shelter. The family got away as fast as they could, unsure if the attackers would come back. They took shelter in a church, which provided them with clothes, food, and help buying plane tickets to the border.
鈥淢y only thought was we needed to get as far away as possible,鈥� Graciela says, tears rolling down under her mask. 鈥淲e had no idea the border was closed.鈥�
It remains closed by Title 42, a Trump-era public health order implemented to slow the arrival of COVID-19 across U.S. borders. It soon transformed into an immigration-enforcement tool, keeping migrants and refugees out, even as mask bans and other pandemic restrictions are lifted.
U.S. migration policy has been 鈥渆xtremely restrictive鈥� on its southern border for decades, says Juan Antonio Del Monte, a researcher at the College of the Northern Border outside Tijuana. Now, he says, 鈥渢he system is completely stressed.鈥�
Thousands of migrants and refugees, mostly from Mexico and Central America, have crowded into temporary shelters dotted around Tijuana. Children kick deflated soccer balls and clamber on chain-link fences while parents cook on open stoves or scroll through their mobile phones, looking for promising news. Come nightfall, bunk beds, tents, and flimsy mattresses cover every inch of floor space.
Some shelters are building extensions, their concrete foundations and steel frames symbolizing the increasing permanence of what refugees had hoped would be a temporary wait.
Even if Title 42 is revoked, it is unclear how easily Latin American refugees would secure asylum interviews with Border Patrol officials.听 Before the COVID-19 restriction, U.S. officials operated a metered system that allowed 10 to 15 refugees each day the chance to approach the port of entry in Tijuana.听
Ukrainian refugees, on the other hand, were processed by the hundreds every day after they began arriving here in early March. An estimated 14,000 were granted one-year humanitarian permits to enter the United States through late April.
鈥淭his shows that with political will, you can get things done,鈥� says Dr. Del Monte. 鈥淯krainians were processed quickly and efficiently.鈥� The U.S. authorities 鈥渉ave demonstrated they can handle this.鈥�
An outpouring of support
Also working in the Ukrainian refugees鈥� favor are compatriots who rallied to help them, setting an example of solidarity that local advocates would like to see replicated among other immigrant communities.
鈥淭hey arrived from the other side of the world and were met by a community of Ukrainians from the U.S. who supported them and managed everything in an orderly way,鈥� says Jos茅 Maria Garcia Lara, director of the Movimiento Juventud 2000 shelter.
Inna Levien, a volunteer coordinator from Orange County, is proud of the work she and an estimated 4,000 others pulled off in Tijuana.
鈥淭here鈥檚 just been an outpouring of support: churches with supplies, help from the local government. All needs have been met,鈥� she says.
That means that money was instantly forthcoming to pay for plane tickets to Mexico City, where Ukrainians in Mexico are now waiting for entry to the U.S. through the newly launched Uniting for Ukraine program. It means that the Unidad Deportivo de Benito Juarez refugee shelter, which three years ago was a densely packed, muddy crush of Central American families, has been transformed into a comfortable haven, serving Ukrainians ham, cheese, and lettuce sandwiches. And, it means that somebody was there to help Kristina Koleganova, the young woman from Odesa, quickly fill out the paperwork that will get her into the U.S.
The volunteers 鈥渄idn鈥檛 just arrive with materials, like beds and food, but with legal support and guidance. That鈥檚 something we need to replicate among other groups,鈥� says Dr. Del Monte.
鈥淚t will require political will. But we can鈥檛 do that if there isn鈥檛 money,鈥� he says.
Racism is also at play, migration experts say. There鈥檚 broad agreement that it was a good thing that U.S. officials helped Ukrainian refugees into the U.S. so speedily. But, it鈥檚 hard not to notice the physical and economic differences between those ushered through 鈥� and those who have been stuck waiting at the border for months, if not years.
鈥淓ven if you don鈥檛 want to believe it, it鈥檚 real,鈥� Ms. V谩zquez says. 鈥淧oor people with dark skin are not treated the same way鈥� at U.S. ports of entry.
On the outskirts of Tijuana, nearly 1,000 migrants and refugees have hunkered down at the Embajada de Jesus shelter. Ruby, who fled an abusive partner in a violent corner of Mexico eight months ago, watches as her 11-year-old son practices the song 鈥淒espacito鈥� on a donated guitar.听
鈥淲atching the Ukrainians cross the border, it felt like someone was clipping my wings,鈥� she says. 鈥淚f my eyes were blue, or my hair was yellow, would my family鈥檚 story be different?鈥� she asks. 鈥淓ven if we are all fleeing different situations, at the end of the day, it鈥檚 all the same.
鈥淲e鈥檙e all running for our lives.鈥�
