Immigration
Border Agents experience ‘Rise in Apprehensions’ of Russians and Ukrainians at U.S. Southern Border
A new scenario is confronting law enforcement agents at our Southern border with Mexico. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has seen a large increase in Russians and Ukrainians apprehended at the border.
The rise in apprehensions began last winter as tensions between Ukraine and Russia began to intensify. Individuals foreshadowed the war and made attempts to reach the United States. The Foreign Desk reports on recent numbers from CBP “show that just in the last six months, 1,300 Ukrainians met immigration officials at the U.S.-Mexico border, up from less than 700 for all of 2021.”
“Over 7,000 Russians also have arrived, approximately doubling last year’s figure.” The number of Russian or Ukrainian citizens crossing the border makes up only a small percentage of everyone from around the globe making the attempt, but there is one large difference.
Unlike most Central and South American migrants, those from Ukraine and Russia are being allowed to stay in the U.S., “and in many cases, arranging to meet relatives already here.”
The Foreign Desk reports:
A DHS memo released March 11 authorized CBP agents to consider exempting from expulsion asylum-seekers with Ukrainian passports. Exemptions are to be made on a case-by-case basis.
Russians who have fled Russia are not addressed in the memo.
Many Russians have left Russia as the invasion of Ukraine ramped up, fearing political persecution or conscription to go fight in Ukraine.
A common strategy for both Russians and Ukrainians is to enter Mexico as a tourist, without paperwork in order and then apply for asylum status upon entering the U.S. It is easier to get a tourist visa for Mexico than for the U.S.
Fox News reported some Russian asylum-seekers were being turned away at the border, under Title 42 rules , but Ukrainians were ushered into the U.S. The Biden administration also announced this week that the U.S. would accept up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees “through the full range of legal pathways,”
It remains unclear as to whether or not those crossing at the border will be included in that number.
Immigration
Border officials find ‘sophisticated’ drug tunnel with rail system, electricity, from Tijuana to San Diego
Earlier this week U.S. authorities announced the discovery of a “fully operational” and “sophisticated” tunnel under the U.S.-Mexico border, reaching from Tijuana to San Diego.
Authorities confirmed 1,700-foot tunnel that ends in a San Diego warehouse near the U.S. Border Protection Otay Mesa Port of Entry was used to traffic drugs.
U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California Randy Grossman said the 61-foot deep and four feet across at the widest part was complete with “reinforced walls, a rail system, and electricity for ventilation.”
A 1,744 foot drug smuggling tunnel 61 feet underneath Trump’s border wall is discovered between Tijuana Mexico and Otay Mesa, south of San Diego. It has reinforced walls, a rail system, electricity, and a ventilation system. pic.twitter.com/O2KXREUJh6
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) May 17, 2022
Authorities stated a whopping $25 million worth of drugs were seized form within the tunnel over the weekend. Fox News reports that among the drugs were “1,762 pounds of cocaine, 165 pounds of meth, and 3.5 pounds of heroin.”
Authorities found the tunnel after surveilling a truck that was going to and from the warehouse with large boxes. “In a span of a few hours, agents watched five vehicles come and go from the stash house and this warehouse, we allege that the defendants were driving into the garage and loading or dropping off cardboard boxes full of drugs to further the movement or distribution of drugs throughout the United States, the federal agents were watching the whole time,” Grossman said.
After raiding the warehouse, authorities found no other drugs, but did spot the tunnel opening carved onto the floor.
“There is no more light at the end of this narco-tunnel,” Grossman said. “We will take down every subterranean smuggling route we find to keep illicit drugs from reaching our streets and destroying our families and communities.”
Fox News reports six California residents, aged 21 to 55, were arrested and charged with conspiring to distribute cocaine, meth, and heroin. “Together with the Mexican government, we have been collaborating in trying to eradicate these tunnels, which should not exist because that is where a lot of crime happens, and a lot of the suffering that we see,” U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar told the news outlet Zeta. “This needs to stop.”
Fox News adds “authorities said that drug-smuggling tunnels are not uncommon. They are usually used by drug smugglers to evade authorities and transport a large quantity of drugs. More than 15 tunnels have been found since 2006, officials said.”
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Terry
March 29, 2022 at 1:03 pm
Biden will only allow 100,000 “legal” Ukrainians in….but allow any and all ILLEGAL aliens into this US of A????
Did I read and understand that correctly?!?
In the meantime, where is the illegal stoppage of this invasion?
What do we need Governors for???