The US land border was closed again to the Ukrainians

Nikita, along with his wife Natalie and his 3 and a half year old daughter Nicole, are exhausted. He left Irpin in Ukraine at the start of the war, passing through Moldova. This Sunday, he arrived from Poland by plane to Tijuana, on the west coast of Mexico. A long 24 -hour trip took him to the Benito Juarez sports center, a few minutes drive from the Tijuana border crossing that went straight to California.

There is nothing hidden in the family in their country. I lost my business and apartment because of the war, all I had left was a few pieces of this luggage.

A U.S. land border has been closed for two years

Nikita wants all Ukrainians who don’t want to wait a few months to have news about their immigration file deposited in American embassies in Europe, overwhelmed by requests for refugees or asylum seekers.

He took advantage of a special exemption from the Biden administration that allows Ukrainians to cross the land border through Mexico, which has been closed to all migrants since the pandemic began in 2020.

Title 42, a Trump-era policy that continued under the Biden administration uses the pretext of pandemic to close the border, stranding migrants and asylum seekers to deport them directly to Mexico or their country of origin.

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, Anastasia Bolo, co-founder of the organization United for Ukraine, has said she has welcomed nearly 12,000 people passing through here, minutes from the border. With the sports center turned into a giant dormitory, Ukrainians aspire to have a better day after a long journey and the grief of leaving their country and their family.

I’m sad, because so many people have paid for their plane tickets up to 10,000 dollars. That’s big money and some of them don’t even have sponsorship to re-apply for immigration when the Title 42 policy expires at the end of May.

Enrique Lucero, head of migrant services in Tijuana City, knows it will be difficult for some of these Ukrainians. Many are unaware of the rule change. So they reached Tijuana, but they could no longer cross the border. There are some who have to go back to Europe and start from scratch unfortunately.

Russian migrants in limbo

In the Ukrainian camp, Pavel, his wife Alyona and their 12-year-old son, Dima, seem confused. And for good reason, their case is more complicated than the Ukrainians here. They are Russians and have no privileges. My friends are Ukrainians, but they can do nothingexplains Pavel, who left Moscow after demonstrating against the war in Ukraine.

I don’t know what will happen to us, because the American immigration services don’t want to help us because we are Russians. We will not be able to return to our country either.

Her son still wants to believe in a better future on the other side of the border, someday. I’m worried because I won’t be able to see my grandmother or my friends at school, but at the same time, I’m living in the United States so I feel mixed.said Dima.

To start again

Meanwhile, Anastasia Bolo is already thinking of other ideas to prevent all these Ukrainians from being left behind for themselves in Tijuana. We will create a reception center in Mexico City for everyone who cannot cancel or exchange their plane ticket or has health problems.

The option to return to Europe is no longer in the plans for some and their livelihoods in Mexico are starting to be limited. They can count on the momentum of unity created on the American side thanks to organizations like Anstasia Bolo.

He himself managed to bring his parents from Mykolaiv to Ukraine. I have six family members so far who have crossed over to California, but I still have family in Ukraine.

Nikita was happy because she crossed before the midnight deadline on Monday. The festivities will also motivate the future of Nicole, her three -and -a -half -year -old daughter. He already knows a lot about tanks and soldiers so I don’t want him to live in that context anymore.

On Sunday, that’s why Nikita was with her friends in San Diego. We now need a few days to rest and think about the future. A future that will not bring him back to Ukraine, because he decided to build his new life in the United States, under the California sun. But he would think of his fellow men who would not last long on this long -awaited frontier.