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.
Enough is enough for Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott and his state’s suffering due to the Biden administration’s failure to secure the southern border. With no help from the federal government and the White House turning a blind eye to the migrant crisis, Abbott has decided to hire a “border czar.”
Governor Abbott announced that recently retired Border Patrol agent Mike Banks will be appointed “border czar” and work with the Texas National Guard and state troopers to find solutions to deter migrants from crossing the border illegally.
In a news conference Monday, Abbott introduced Banks, who retired only ten days earlier, to “tap his expertise to deploy strategies that reduce illegal immigration and keep our community safe.” Amongst his goals is to “accelerate the building of the border wall in Texas.”
Banks said his top priority in his new job “is to make the state of Texas the least desirable place for illegal immigration to cross. I don’t think it’s going to be that difficult. … We just need to be more aggressive.”
Abbott discussed the border wall construction by the state and said his office calculated that the state is spending $25 million per mile of the wall to be built.
The Texas Tribune reports “So far, the state has erected a 1.7-mile stretch of wall on state-owned land in Starr County, part of a $162 million contract awarded to New York-based Posillico Civil Inc. in November 2021 to build eight miles of wall. Posillico Civil began another segment of wall in December in Los Indios in Cameron County.”
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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???