Border Agents Grapple With Russian Woman Seeking Asylum In US
Border agents were caught getting into a physical altercation with a distraught Russian woman seeking asylum in the U.S.
at the southern border amid Russia's .
Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents were seen holding the woman's arms as she looks to have fallen on the ground, and then in a subsequent photo an officer is seen with his arm around the woman as she cries out.
The scuffle took place at the Cordova of the Americas international bridge between Ciudad Juarez, , and El Paso, .
Both Ukrainian and Russian refugees have surged to the U.S.-Mexico border since Vladimir 's invasion left Ukraine a bloody war zone and sent his own economy into turmoil.
Some of the Russians seeking a new life in the U.S.
are anti-war defectors who now believe they have a target on their backs from the Kremlin.
Many are flying across the globe on tourist visas, arriving first in Mexican destinations like Cancun then traveling to northern border cities like Tijuana, just across the border from San Diego.
While ports of entry are still closed to asylum seekers due to Title 42, some migrants, including Ukrainians and Russians, are being allowed in under humanitarian exceptions.
The ones who are not are camping out waiting for Title 42 to expire on May 23 in hopes they will be allowed in then.
President Biden said last month that the United States would accept up to 100,000 Ukrainians fleeing the conflict that has wrought havoc in their home country.
Border agents were caught getting into a physical altercation with a distraught Russian woman seeking asylum in the U.S.
at the southern border amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine
Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents were seen holding the woman's arms as she looks to have fallen on the ground, and then in a subsequent photo an officer is seen with his arm around the woman as she cries out
The scuffle took place at the Cordova of the Americas international bridge in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, just across from El Paso, Texas
But between Feb.
1 and April 6, CBP also reported 41,074 'legal entries' of Ukrainians who had permission to enter the U.S. with visas for travel or permanent residence.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine in late February triggered the largest onslaught of refugees since World War II, with numbers now at over 4.4 million.
Poland has already opened its borders to over two million refugees, with several other European countries taking in hundreds of thousands.
Thousands of Ukrainians seeking refuge have been allowed to cross into the US from its southern border with Mexico, provided they are deemed to be 'particularly vulnerable.'
But a shockingly small number have been granted entry through the official U.S resettlement program.
The United States admitted 439 Ukrainian refugees between February 1 and March 31 during Russia's build up to the war, according to State Department data, but only 12 were officially resettled in March as the war intensified and the number of Ukrainians fleeing skyrocketed.
A border agent is seen talking to the Russian woman just at the border line where Ciudad Juarez, Mexico becomes El Paso, Texas
Both Ukrainian and Russian refugees have surged to the U.S.-Mexico border since Vladimir Putin's invasion left Ukraine a bloody war zone and sent his own economy into turmoil
Some of the Russians seeking a new life in the U.S.
are anti-war defectors who now believe they have a target on their backs from the Kremlin
Ukrainian people seeking asylum in the United States sit in the Benito Juarez madison sports group complex, set up as a shelter by the local government in Tijuana, Mexico April 14
A Ukrainian woman seeking asylum in the United States arrives at the Tijuana International Airport in Tijuana, Mexico April 14
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While the refugee resettlement program provides migrants a pathway to citizenship, many have been allowed in under humanitarian parole, meaning they can stay on a temporary basis.
But Ukrainians and Russians are not the only ones seizing on the end of Title 42, a pandemic-era public health policy that border officials relied on to quickly expel migrants.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has said it is currently bracing for up to 18,000 migrant encounters a day as caravans make their way northward to storm the border when the policy is lifted.
Migrants in recent days have fled from nations like Honduras, Nicaragua and Cuba to make their way northward for a better life.
The Guatemalan government put its security forces on high alert as 2,000 migrants are expected to depart from Honduras on Friday to head toward the U.S.
border.
Meanwhile, 21 states have signed onto a lawsuit against the Biden administration's plan to lift Title 42. In February, 55% of the more than 164,000 migrants encountered at the border were expelled under the order.
