Mexican officials in the northern border city of Tijuana are struggling to deal with a growing number of Russian refugees flying into the country and setting up tent encampments near the California border.
Russian migrants who have fled their homeland amid the war that Vladimir Putin is waging against Ukraine have been living south of the San Ysidro Port of Entry over the past couple weeks. San Ysidro is the busiest port of entry in the Western Hemisphere and connects Tijuana, Baja California, to San Diego, California. Migrants from Ukraine and Russia have increasingly flown into Tijuana, then approached the port of entry to claim asylum because they cannot fly directly into the U.S.
Unlike Ukrainians, whom the Biden administration has allowed U.S. border officials to admit into the country as asylum-seekers, Russian asylum-seekers are being denied entry and forced to wait indefinitely in Tijuana.
One Russian migrant identified as Mike told Border Report that he and his wife fled their home seeking “freedom” in the U.S.
“It’s Putin’s conflict, not me. Russian people are good people,” Mike said.
CRACKDOWN STOPPED VENEZUELANS FROM FLYING INTO MEXICO AND WALKING ACROSS U.S. BORDER
Last week, the Tijuana city government ordered migrants living near the port to clear out and head to shelters where they can stay at no cost to them, according to Border Report. Letters provided to the Russian migrants in both Russian and Spanish state that they cannot reside in a “federal and international zone between Mexico and the United States.”
The letters also warned that they should not try to seek asylum by entering the U.S. between ports of entry, claiming it would negatively affect their asylum claims.
“We recommend you don’t try and force your way into the United States and risk your physical being while being penalized later during the asylum process,” Tijuana Migrant Affairs Office Director Enrique Lucero wrote.
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As of Thursday, the Russian migrants had not been forced to leave the port area.
