Jjust over the zigzag pathway of the Tijuana border crossing, a mile or so from the taco and churros stands that feed locals and tourists alike, remains a pop-up encampment for Ukrainian and Russian refugees fleeing an invasion they could neither endure nor support.
From February until just this week, Mexico has been their second-to-last stop in a weeks-long journey; Tijuana a two- or three-day respite on the way to something better, something safer, where their children can slowly work toward normalcy after their lives were upended by war.
These displaced families – a flight away from Washington state or Illinois or South Carolina – are fanning out across the country, staying with friends and relatives, applying for food stamps and social security cards and enrolling their children in school. While they are far further in their relocation than the Mexican, Central American and Haitian asylum seekers waiting years for that same opportunity, these newcomers still face many hurdles.
“Everything is so different here in the US,” said Anastasiia Puzhalina, a Ukrainian refugee who arrived in the States in early April alongside her family. “We must learn so much. I hope we’ll get through this.”
more than 5.2 million people have flown Ukraine since the start of the invasion; another 7.7 million have left their homes but remain inside the country. More than 1,000 education facilities have been attacked – the figure probably includes an art school where 400 people were sheltered – according to the United Nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs.
The Russian invasion has been chaotic, surprisingly inept and unbearably brutal, often targeting civilians. Thousands have died – the exact number is a subject of debate and might not be known for years – with hundreds discovered in mass serious. Women and girls have been particularly vulnerable to sexual assault. All of which has forced families with means to make their way out.
The refugees who arrive in Tijuana enter the encampment with pained expressions, scrambling to corral both their children and their belongings, their anxiety evidenced in their sharp tones and lack of patience with the worn-out youngsters they tote. Once inside, their mood shifts. Handed a water bottle and ice-cream by dozens of Ukrainian and Russian-speaking volunteers, many of whom flew down from the US to assist, they are directed to a check-in desk where a smiling woman assigns each individual, couple or family to number that will be called when it’s time to leave.
Other aid workers will drive them to their next stop: often San Diego international airport.
That’s exactly what Puzhalina was waiting for. She listened carefully to each number, eager for hers: 2567. Sitting under the partial shade of a palm tree, she said the family felt safe in the encampment, though they were told not to venture out into the city. Tijuana, population 1.3 million, saw 1,972 homicides in 2021. By comparison, there were 485 in New York Citymore than six times its size.
The family didn’t stay in Mexico for long: within days, they flew to Tacoma, Washington.
Anatoli Bassarskii, 37, of Chernivtsi in western Ukraine, hadn’t decided where he and his family would move. No matter where they settle, they intend to enroll their 10-year-old son Artur in school right away so he can learn English and have only a minimal disruption to his education from him. Bassarskii is concerned about the fifth grader fitting in.
“With the language barrier and different cliques of kids, I’m worried about him being bullied,” he said through a translator.
Artur, handsome with bright blue eyes, had already found playmates upon his arrival to the camp in early April and hoped for the same in the States.
He believed his American school would be an improvement over what he had in Ukraine, with better and more up-to-date facilities. An athlete with aspirations of becoming a dentist, he wasn’t worried about assimilation. “I’m sure everyone will say hi to me,” he said, a Nike backpack slung across his shoulders. “Everyone will be my friend.”
His father hopes his son is right, because the family plans to stay in the country permanently.
“We want to live in America forever,” Bassarskii said.
Other asylum seekers have not been given the same priority. Fleeing the twin atrocities of gang violence and poverty in their own countries, Mexican, Central American and Haitian refugees have not been offered the expedited pathway laid out for the Ukrainians despite waiting at the border for years.
They have been held in place by a Covid-era policy called Title 42 which, enacted in March 2020, allowed the US to refuse entry because of health concerns. And their living conditions are atrocious: flimsy tents, flooded by heavy rains and blown away by high winds, sit unguarded and vulnerable in crime-infested places like Reynosa, across the border from McAllen, Texas.
Immigrant advocates recognize the disparity and wish for similar treatment for all.
“I believe that everybody who has a legitimate claim and has a fear for their lives should be given the right to enter the US … It shouldn’t matter what country you are coming from,” Sister Norma Pimentel, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley in south Texas, told the 74. Her organization has served hundreds of thousands of people crossing over in recent years.
But that has not been the case. Last week, Joe Biden, who has already pledged to welcome 100,000 Ukrainian refugees, announced “United for Ukraine”, an expedited immigration program that will allow those fleeing the country to arrive in the US directly from Europe, bypassing Mexico. They must have been in Ukraine as of 11 February;, have a sponsor who can financially support them (this can be in individual or organization), complete vaccinations and other public health requirements, and pass background checks. The new policy went into effect Monday.
Most will receive two years of residence and authorization to work in the US. Those who continue trying to enter the US through Tijuana are subject to Title 42, but that might not last long. The restriction is set to be lifted 23 May, although lawmakers from both parties worry the southern border isn’t ready for the influence: Tens of thousands of people are waiting for entry, including 9,000 in Reynosa alone, Pimentel said.
Adding to these concerns, the supreme court heard oral arguments this week on the Biden administration’s attempts to end the 2018 Migrant Protection Protocols, which require some asylum seekers to remain in Mexico for the duration of their US immigration proceedings.
US Customs and Border Protection has reported nearly 15,000 encounters with Ukrainian and Russian refugees since the start of the year. It logged more than 349,008 such incidents with asylum seekers from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti and Honduras in that same time period.
The children of these Ukrainian families are just starting to trickle into the nation’s schools: South Carolina, for example, has 101 more Ukrainian and 29 more Russian students than it did this same time last year.
South Carolina school districts that have called the state for assistance in admitting newcomers without transcripts have been reminded of their legal obligation to enroll these students quickly. They’re also advised to find proper translation services so they can communicate with their families.
They know at least some of these students have experienced trauma and believe schools, flush with cash because of the pandemic, are likely more equipped to help them than in years past.
And qualifying South Carolina school districts will see an increase in funding for all new immigrants, no matter their country of origin.
“We want them to feel valued … and welcomed for all of the expertise they bring to our communities,” said Susan Murphy, who serves multilingual learners at the state level.
Oksana Bevzenko, who arrived in Mexico from Kyiv with three of her children, ages 17, 14 and four, planned to relocate to Spartanburg, South Carolina.
She spent an afternoon in early April trying to feed her daughter an orange as the child walked along the landing of a large red, blue and yellow piece of playground equipment near the center of the Tijuana encampment.
Asked what she wanted for her children in America, she had only one request: peace.
Anastasiia Puzhalina, who now lives in Tacoma, has already registered her children in school. Her 10-year-old son de ella, Illia, had expressed worry about that transition, fearing he would be misunderstood because he does not speak English.
“I’m afraid someone will be unfriendly to me because I’m a refugee,” he said when interviewed back at the encampment. “I wish I could have at least one Ukrainian- or Russian-speaking kid in my class so I could feel comfortable. I want to make friends.”
His 6-year-old sister, Virsaviia, picked up her brother’s trepidation, said she wished her cousin could be in her class, but the child is a full year younger, her mother said.
The children started school 21 April
“They loved the first day,” their mother reported. “They remembered the names of their teachers, but didn’t remember some names of their new friends because they sound so different from our Ukrainian. They liked the lunch: burgers and chocolate milk. It sounds like a dream lunch for them. They take English classes most of the time. Everything is like in an American movie for them.”
It’s difficult to align those images with the terror the family experienced just weeks ago.
Food was running low and the local markets were empty in Puzhalina’s hometown of Slavutych, near the border of Belarus. Eventually, her community of her lost both gas and electricity. The family was forced to cook all of its food at once, outdoors, on an open flame fueled by wood they gathered from a nearby forest – lest it rot.
They had no internet, no working cellphones, no way to see or hear the news of what was happening in Slavutych. The surrounding region had already been bombarded, key bridges destroyed.
Puzhalina said she asked God to show her “silence in her heart” so she and her husband would know the exact moment to escape with their three children. So, she waited for when she could no longer hear bombs dropping in the distance. Just then, a neighbor knocked on her door to tell her some of the families in her community de ella were preparing to leave.
“In that moment, I packed our bags, and we left,” she said, pressing a closed fist against her chest.
After two days of travel, they crossed into Poland on 15 March. Puzhalina’s sister hosted them for a week before they moved on to Germany, where they stayed with another relative for nearly 14 days.
Eventually, Puzhalina’s brother-in-law helped the family buy tickets from Frankfurt to Amsterdam to Mexico City and, finally, Tijuana, where they arrived April 7.
There is only one way to describe their safe passage, she said: “It was a miracle.”
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This report was published in partnership with the 74a non-profit, non-partisan news site covering education in America
www.theguardian.com
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism