According to a fresh allegation, a party of 35 Russians were surreptitiously brought into the US last week after waiting days to cross the southern border, while Ukrainian residents were let in.
The asylum seekers had been camping out near the border crossing between Tijuana and San Ysidro, Calif., and Mexican authorities had grown impatient for them to move.
According to the site, the US consul in Tijuana, Thomas E. Reott, met with members of the Russian encampment earlier this month with Mexican officials present and told them that if they left the camp, they could cross the border in three to four days.
The Russian refugees, many of whom are vocal opponents of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, are said to have refused to leave, claiming that waiting three to four days was too long. Officials from the Mexican state of Baja California eventually informed the group on March 19 that they would be permitted to cross at 5 a.m. the following day
Mexican immigration officers took the Russians to a checkpoint in the United States that is closed to the general public and mostly used to process deportees returning to Mexico.
The gang was processed by Customs and Border Protection agents after crossing the border and held in custody for two days. The Russian group’s families were released into the San Diego area on March 22 and issued notices to appear before immigration courts in the following months. Adults who were single were taken to immigration detention centers.
Prior to the DHS guidelines for Ukrainian refugees, rumors surfaced that border personnel were using Title 42 to prohibit admission to both Ukrainians and Russians.
When asked by the source, the State Department refused to comment on the agreement reached last week, but stated the US and Mexico work closely on a variety of topics, including migration.
