Baja California.- Since the outbreak of the war in ukrainehundreds of Ukrainian citizens have arrived at the gates of the northern border of the United States, waiting to be received in asylum by the United States, this situation has caused an unbalanced process, because those from the Slavic country have preferential treatment activists and academics in Tijuana, Baja California denounced Central American, Haitian, and Mexican people, among other places of origin.
As the specialists mentioned, the Ukrainians displaced by the war are given immediate refuge, and even, since April 6, the pedestrian border port of El Chaparral was opened only to receive them, after two years of not operating, while other nationalities closed the door to them completely.
In a tour of shelters in the city, migrants, mainly from Central America, Haiti and Mexico, were observed waiting up to two years to submit an asylum application in the US.
Migrants consider that they live in an “undeclared war” due to the violence that plagues their countries.
Soraya Vázquez, Deputy Director of the organization Al Otro Lado, which provides binational legal advice to asylum seekers, pointed out that until before the pandemic there was a list of 9,000 people waiting at the border.
However, he added, the organization he represents has more than 50,000 records of asylum seekers in Tijuana and the rest of the US-Mexico border.
“Yes, there are thousands of people who have been waiting here and suddenly they were surprised by this population of Ukraine, which is certainly fleeing from a war, comes here and has all the facilities, restrictions do not apply to them,” said.
“We see this as a racist policy, as a racist measure, why do they and the others don’t? The border is supposed to be closed for a public health issue. What do you mean? That whites, blondes, They are not carriers of Covid? Yes, we are concerned,” he added, referring to Title 42, a measure that allowed the border to be closed alleging health issues.
Guillermo Alonso Meneses, a researcher at the Department of Cultural Studies of the Colegio de la Frontera Norte (Colef), pointed out that the refugee profile in Tijuana has changed.
“Now in Europe there is talk that there are first, second and third class refugees, and we are verifying this in Tijuana, they are going to pass faster than the Russians, and faster than the Haitians and Central Americans, it is an issue that is emerging,” he said.
“With the first caravan of 20,000 Haitians, Tijuana overflowed, now we are not going to see this with the Ukrainians, because the US is receiving them, it is a racist measure, a hypothesis, a conjecture, we can think right or wrong, is (the US) discriminating against refugees based on their color and their origin? Well, everything indicates yes”he questioned.
For her part, Katerine Girón, who is Salvadoran and coordinates the “Communities” Program of the Espacio Migrante association in Tijuana, reported that the US authorities could receive refugee applications from up to 600 Ukrainians every day.
“In everything we have been doing in our work, we have observed that the migration policies they implement tend to make this division, and it is not the Ukrainians’ fault for the advantage they are given,” exposed.
“We understand that there is a context of war in your country (Ukraine), they try to save their lives, but other countries (Central America, Haiti and Mexico) have a war, with gangs, organized crime, there are people who have spent almost two years and they are not given this opening”he added.
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Girón stressed that the only ones responsible for these inequitable migration policies are the governments, such as the US or Mexico.
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