Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
How Those Fleeing Ukraine Inspired US Border Policies
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 2 years ago on
May 9, 2023

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

WASHINGTON — Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, refugees from the threatened nation started showing up at Mexico’s border with the United States. Roughly 1,000 Ukrainians a day flew to Tijuana on tourist visas, desperate to reach U.S. soil.

The volume was overwhelming the nation’s busiest border crossing in San Diego. In Tijuana, thousands of Ukrainians slept in a municipal gym hoping for a chance to cross into the U.S.

In response, the Biden administration announced it would admit up to 100,000 Ukrainians for two years — if they applied online, had a financial backer and entered through an airport. At the same time, border officials turned back Ukrainians who arrived on foot at the U.S. border.

Biden Administration Shifts Immigration Policy

The Democratic administration has considered those policies to be so effective that a similar model has become the centerpiece of a broader border policy rolling out in earnest Thursday as coronavirus pandemic-related restrictions that had allowed U.S. officials to quickly turn away migrants crossing illegally come to an end.

The results are sure to be a test for President Joe Biden, who is seeking reelection as the border shifts back into the political spotlight and Republicans seek to portray him as soft on security.

“Our model is to build lawful pathways and then to impose consequences that the law provides on those that do not avail themselves of those lawful pathways,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters last month.

It’s a shift away from the more open immigration policies that characterized Biden’s first year as president in favor of an approach that pairs beefed-up enforcement with expanded legal pathways and diplomacy.

Critics Question Biden’s Immigration Policies

The policies have been criticized by the left as too much like former President Donald Trump’s. Others wonder whether anything Biden does will stop the flow of migrants along the southern border, and whether the new policies can survive expected legal challenges and a lack of resources.

But some immigration experts think it may be a balanced approach that results in fewer illegal crossings while still providing a haven for those fleeing persecution.

“I think they have a fighting chance, over time, to turn this into a real system that is both more fair and more controllable,” said Andrew Selee, president of the Migration Policy Institute, a non-partisan immigration think tank.

This account is based in part on interviews with more than a dozen current and former administration officials who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

Within his first month in office, Biden signed a slew of executive actions to undo Trump-era policies. He backed legislation to provide a path to citizenship for millions in the country illegally. He stacked his administration with immigrant advocates eager to push back against what they saw as anti-immigrant policies by Trump.

But alarms rang almost immediately when nearly 19,000 children traveling alone were stopped at the border in March 2021. Senior officials met twice weekly to strategize, moving children out of badly overcrowded Border Patrol facilities to emergency shelters, including convention centers in California and military bases in Texas.

While the number of unaccompanied children eased, a “daily dashboard” monitored by top officials showed overall arrivals continuing to rise, especially families.

Biden Administration Adapts Policy to Changing Border Situation

Most of the people coming to the U.S. border illegally are fleeing persecution or poverty in their home countries. They ask for asylum and have generally been allowed into the U.S. to wait out their cases. That process can take years under a badly strained immigration court system, and it has prompted increasing numbers to come to the border hoping to get into the U.S.

Even though many ask for asylum, the legal pathway is narrow and most do not meet the standard.

By the time Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, many officials with close ties to immigration advocacy groups had left the administration, some exasperated that their views weren’t gaining more traction and feeling that Biden was not as focused on the U.S.-Mexico border as he was on other issues. That left officials with more centrist views in charge.

Mayorkas and others were worried that Ukrainians could be unsafe in their travels and their circuitous route to the U.S. was further straining border resources. That led to the “Uniting for Ukraine” policy, under which 128,000 people have been allowed into the U.S., with tens of thousands more approved to come. And the number of Ukrainians coming on foot essentially stopped.

“We built at incredible speed and it proved successful,” Mayorkas said.

The administration turned its focus to other people coming to the border illegally who could not be easily returned to their home countries. Venezuelans had become the second-largest nationality at the border after Mexicans, and in October 2022, they became the second group where the policy would apply. If they crossed illegally on foot, 24,000 would be returned back over the border to Mexico. If they came by air, with sponsors, the U.S. would take in 24,000.

Meanwhile, Cubans and Nicaraguans had pushed illegal crossings to the highest levels on record in December, as Fox News aired live reports of hundreds of waiting migrants under the banner: “Biden’s Border Crisis.”

Republican-led states had sued to keep the COVID-19 restrictions in place. And Biden officials were waiting to see if a bipartisan immigration bill in Congress could actually pass. It didn’t.

So in January, Biden announced the policy would be expanded again to people from Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua, and they increased the number of people: 30,000 from each of the four nationalities would be allowed in as long as they flew in, met background checks and had sponsors. Mexico agreed to take the same number back from those four countries who cross the border illegally.

“We can’t stop people from making the journey, but we can require them to come here in an orderly way under U.S. law,” Biden said in announcing the policy.

Soon, the administration was reporting that Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans made up only 3% of illegal crossings in March, down from 40% in December.

The U.S. has now declared the COVID-19 emergency over, and the restrictions will end this week that have allowed U.S. officials to turn away migrants more than 2.8 million times since March 2020.

Biden Administration Expands Legal Pathways for Migrants

The Biden administration has bolstered its centerpiece policy with other moves meant to clamp down at the border and open up other pathways for migrants.

Last week, the administration said it would admit 100,000 people from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador who come to be reunited with their families in the U.S. New immigration hubs in Guatemala, Colombia and perhaps elsewhere will field applications to come to the United States.

But border officials are also speeding up the process asylum seekers go through, to more quickly expel those who fail. And it’s finalizing a new rule — similar to a Trump policy that was blocked in court — to make obtaining asylum extremely difficult for anyone who passes through another country, like Mexico, to reach the U.S. border.

Meanwhile, the number of Venezuelans illegally crossing the border is rising again. Administration officials are waiting to see whether it’s a temporary blip related to the end of COVID-19 restrictions.

Mayorkas Acknowledges Need for Congressional Action

Mayorkas acknowledged the concerns during a tour of Texas’ Rio Grande Valley last week. In the end, he said, nothing is a substitute for congressional action.

“We have a plan, we are executing on that plan,” Mayorkas said. “Fundamentally, however, we are working within a broken immigration system that for decades has been in dire need of reform.”

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Special Interests Pour More Than Half a Billion Into CA Lobbying

DON'T MISS

Texas Walmart Shooter Who Killed 23 Avoids Death Penalty by Pleading Guilty

DON'T MISS

Chevron Announces First Oil at Ballymore Project in US Gulf

DON'T MISS

Fresno Barbershop Shooting Leaves Man Dead, Two Others Injured

DON'T MISS

Vance, Modi Welcome Significant Progress on India-US Trade Deal

DON'T MISS

White House Denies Report It Is Searching for New Defense Secretary

DON'T MISS

Israeli Spy Chief Hands Court Scathing Rebuke of Netanyahu Bid to Sack Him

DON'T MISS

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Satbir Singh

DON'T MISS

Steeply Discounted OD-Reversal Medicine Now Available to Any Californian

DON'T MISS

Merced College Breaks Ground on $21 Million Center Geared for Tomorrow’s Ag Jobs

UP NEXT

Israeli Spy Chief Hands Court Scathing Rebuke of Netanyahu Bid to Sack Him

UP NEXT

Israeli Minister Says Freeing Hostages Not ‘Most Important’ Aim of the War

UP NEXT

Palestinian Red Crescent Says Israeli Probe Into Gaza Aid Workers’ Killings Not Enough

UP NEXT

Carney Ahead in Polls as Canada Enters Last Week of Election Campaign

UP NEXT

Pope Francis, First Latin American Pontiff, Dies on Easter Monday

UP NEXT

Yemen’s Houthi Rebels Report US Strikes in the Capital and a Coastal City

UP NEXT

Humanoid Robots Run a Chinese Half-Marathon Alongside Human Competitors

UP NEXT

US and Iran Advance Nuclear Talks to Expert Level After Rome Meeting

UP NEXT

Supreme Court Blocks, for Now, New Deportations Under 18th Century Wartime Law

UP NEXT

Russian Missile Attack Kills One, Wounds 112 in Ukraine’s Kharkiv, Officials Say

Fresno Barbershop Shooting Leaves Man Dead, Two Others Injured

2 hours ago

Vance, Modi Welcome Significant Progress on India-US Trade Deal

2 hours ago

White House Denies Report It Is Searching for New Defense Secretary

3 hours ago

Israeli Spy Chief Hands Court Scathing Rebuke of Netanyahu Bid to Sack Him

3 hours ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Satbir Singh

4 hours ago

Steeply Discounted OD-Reversal Medicine Now Available to Any Californian

4 hours ago

Merced College Breaks Ground on $21 Million Center Geared for Tomorrow’s Ag Jobs

4 hours ago

Delta Plane Suffers Engine Fire in Orlando, Forcing Evacuation

4 hours ago

Fresno Police Arrest 11 for DUI During Weekend Enforcement

4 hours ago

Reddit Down for Thousands of Users Worldwide

4 hours ago

Special Interests Pour More Than Half a Billion Into CA Lobbying

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.  Lobbying groups spent more than half a billion dollars to...

6 minutes ago

California Lobbyists and Special Interests
6 minutes ago

Special Interests Pour More Than Half a Billion Into CA Lobbying

El Paso Walmart mass shooter Patrick Crusius, a 21-year-old male from Allen, Texas, accused of killing 22 and injuring 25, is arraigned, in El Paso, Texas, U.S. October 10, 2019. (Mark Lambie/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo)
46 minutes ago

Texas Walmart Shooter Who Killed 23 Avoids Death Penalty by Pleading Guilty

A Chevron gas station sign is seen in Austin, Texas, U.S., October 23, 2023. (REUTERS/Brian Snyder)
2 hours ago

Chevron Announces First Oil at Ballymore Project in US Gulf

Jampier Quintero, 44, was killed and two others were injured in a shooting Saturday at a Fresno barbershop, with police still searching for suspects. (Fresno PD)
2 hours ago

Fresno Barbershop Shooting Leaves Man Dead, Two Others Injured

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets U.S. Vice President JD Vance at his residence in New Delhi, India, April 21, 2025. India's Press Information (Bureau/Handout via REUTERS)
2 hours ago

Vance, Modi Welcome Significant Progress on India-US Trade Deal

A view of the White House in Washington, U.S., July 20, 2024. (REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt/File Photo)
3 hours ago

White House Denies Report It Is Searching for New Defense Secretary

Israeli Security Agency director Ronen Bar attends a memorial ceremony of the Hamas attack on October 7 last year that sparked the ongoing war in Gaza, at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem on October 27, 2024. (GIL COHEN-MAGEN/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo)
3 hours ago

Israeli Spy Chief Hands Court Scathing Rebuke of Netanyahu Bid to Sack Him

Satbir Singh is Valley Crime Stoppers' Most Wanted Person of the Day for April 21, 2025. (Valley Crimes Stoppers)
4 hours ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Satbir Singh

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend