SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – Thousands of Ukrainians fly to Mexico and then cross into the United States near San Diego. For about a month now, volunteers have been setting up a makeshift camp to greet refugees as they walk through the port of San Ysidro from Tijuana, Mexico to the United States. The volunteers greet them with applause and cheers, entering one after the other, each with a similar story: many days of travel, an exhausting journey and worries about the future. Alona Bastys welcomed her sister Iryna this week. Iryna spent many days on planes and in a processing center in Mexico. “There are no words to describe how we feel,” Bastys said. Elena Fetisova greeted her teenage sister in Tijuana on the fifth day of her trip from Ukraine. “My sister is 15 and she comes straight from Ukraine,” Fetisova said. Elena Fetisova, 34, greeted her 15-year-old sister in Tijuana, Mexico, after her sister escaped from Ukraine and flew west to reach the United States. (Elena Fetisova) (Fox News) Nataliya Povod, 22, was on a study abroad trip to the Czech Republic when the war broke out. Her program ended this month. “In April, I had to go home. But I realized there was no way I could go home,” Povod said. RUSSIA INVASES UKRAINE: LIVE UPDATES Ever since the war began, 4.6 million people have fled Ukrainemany in nearby European countries, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR). “I talked to this lady. She’s 62. She had her own hair salon and she just didn’t want to leave. It’s like, this is my home,” said Alina Gordon, founder of the Church of Music in San Diego. and volunteer at the border. “The night before she decided to leave, a phosphor bomb was dropped from her apartment.” Churches, nonprofits, and other organizations help people on both sides of the border by providing food, water, hot drinks, blankets, and even children’s books and toys. They also offer transfers, temporary accommodation and free legal services. Alina Gordon says she immigrated to the US from Ukraine with her parents in 1994. “They left everything behind. But the difference then with what is happening now is that we had a year to prepare for immigration,” Gordon said. “Most of the families I meet at the moment, 99.9% have left at night. And they have a backpack with them. And most of their belongings are still back in Ukraine.” Volunteers set up makeshift camp along southwest border in Tijuana, Mexico, for Ukrainian refugees trying to cross into the United States (Alona Bastys) (Fox News) Immigration lawyers say strict visa requirements, lack of documents and pandemic restrictions have made it difficult for Ukrainians to enter the US legally. Crossing through Mexico and then applying for asylum at the border is faster. “It does not matter where you are from. If you want to enter the United States, you must have some form of documentation to enter. We usually have it in our passport,” said Alejandro San Miguel, an immigration lawyer in McAllen, Texas. southwestern border. “People who do not have this can always show up at an entry port… and can apply for asylum.” ZELENSKY MOCKS RUSSIA’S MILITARY STRATEGY AS LOSSES OF THE MILITARY ARE BEING ESTABLISHED: “WHO COULD APPROVE SUCH A SUCH?” Asylum applications in the United States can take years to resolve, but for many, arriving in the United States is a victory. “I feel I’m in the right place right now,” Povod said. “And I felt that as soon as you cross the border and go out, a lot of people just help. So, it’s like coming home.” For Elena Fetisova, she tries to keep in touch with her family in Ukraine every day. “Every day I call them (and say) ‘Do you live there?’ Fetisova, 34, moved to the United States when she was 19 years old. Her sister, who arrived on Monday, is just 15 years old. “It was very difficult for her to even fly here through Mexico City. They just put her in the room. They did not tell her anything until her passport and her phone from her and the poor child sat there for about an hour and did not know what to do. “So it was very scary,” Fetisova said. Volunteers say they have seen the number of Ukrainians crossing increase from a few dozen in mid-March to thousands, many of them women and children. “We went from processing about 100 to 150 refugees a day and now they process about 50 every two hours,” Gordon said. The Customs and Border Protection informs Website each month with the data of the previous month for illegal crossings and meetings. BIDEN ADMINISTRATION APPROVES ADDITIONAL $ 800 MILLION IN WEAPONS, SECURITY ASSISTANCE IN UKRAINE The numbers have not been released since March 13, and a CBP spokesman declined to provide them directly to Fox News before connecting to the Internet. CBS News reports that nearly 10,000 Ukrainians went through unofficial documentation from February 1 to April 6, but the CBP did not confirm those numbers to Fox News. They also report 41,000 “legal entrances” of Ukrainians entering the US with appropriate documents such as visas and passports. President Biden said the United States would accept 100,000 Ukrainian refugees in the country, but the government did not provide further details.
