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US lets Ukrainians fleeing war into United States from Mexico
Several Ukrainians told Reuters they passed through a checkpoint in the northern Mexican city of Tijuana this week and were granted permission to remain in the country until 2023.
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Sasha and Julia, from Ukraine, wait for US authorities to let them in at San Ysidro Crossing port in Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico, on March 12, 2022. During the past days citizens mainly from Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus, have been seen at the San Ysidro crossing port seeking for asylum in the United States.
(AFP/Guillermo Arias )
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t the US border with Mexico, American officials are allowing Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion of their homeland to enter the United States and stay without fear of deportation for a year, according to people crossing.
Several Ukrainians told Reuters they passed through a checkpoint in the northern Mexican city of Tijuana this week and were granted permission to remain in the country until 2023.
A former US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) official briefed on the matter said that US authorities were granting one-year temporary "humanitarian parole" to Ukrainians.
CBP and the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees the border agency, did not reply to requests for comment. DHS has said in the past that all parole decisions at the border are made on a case-by-case basis.
The Ukrainians reported traveling through a string of countries to get to the United States, where they hope to find refuge, stay with relatives or rebuild their lives.
Alex Mak, a 24-year-old Ukrainian who declined to give his full name for fear of reprisals, said officials put a stamp in his passport authorizing him a year's stay.
"It's a crazy situation. Your life just stops," he told Reuters as he waited in the sun for over an hour in Tijuana to cross the border on Tuesday. "You can't plan for work because of the war, and you don't have work, you can't work."
