More Russians seeking asylum in the US

Asylum-seekers include Putin opponents, Muslims and business owners who have been extorted by authorities

Ukrainians who recently arrived to Mexico fleeing the Russian invasion of their homeland wait for their turn to try to get into the US near the San Ysidro Port of Entry of the US-Mexico border, in Tijuana, Mexico. Reuters

Ukrainians fleeing war arrive to Mexico to cross into the US. Reuters

Ukrainians fleeing war arrive to Mexico to cross into the US. Reuters

A Ukrainian man holds a baby at US-Mexican border as he waits to cross into the US. Reuters

Over 600 Ukrainians have assembled at Mexico's border with the US. Reuters

Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion of their homeland wait for a US Customs and Border Protection agent before passing through a checkpoint to enter the US after authorities granted permission to remain in the country until 2023, at the San Ysidro Port of Entry of the US-Mexico border in Tijuana, Mexico. Reuters

Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion of their homeland at the US-Mexico border. Reuters

Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion were granted permission by the Biden administration to remain in the country until 2023. Reuters

The number of Ukrainians and Russians encountered at the Us-Mexico border has already surpassed the previous two years, with the most significant uptick happening in the last six months, as Russia's threats against Ukraine increased. Bloomberg

Ukrainian refugees Sasha Alexandra and Olena fled their city of Dnipro, Ukraine earlier this month and travelled to Germany before flying to Mexico. Getty Images / AFP

Russian asylum seekers Nastya, Artem and their son Samuil sit outside the San Ysidro Port of Entry after not being allowed to cross into the US to seek asylum on March 21, 2022 in Tijuana, Mexico. The family left Russia after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began due to religious persecution. Getty Images / AFP

A Russian and a Ukrainian embrace each other as Russians wait for humanitarian visas, amid the ongoing Russia's invasion of Ukraine, at the San Ysidro Port of Entry of the US -Mexico border in Tijuana, Mexico. Reuters

A Russian and a Ukrainian embracing at the San Ysidro Port of Entry of the US-Mexico border in Tijuana, Mexico. Reuters

Russian and Ukrainian families are staying in a makeshift camp next to the San Ysidro Garita, in Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico. EPA

Ukrainians and Russians have been waiting side-by-side to enter the US from the Mexico border. AP

About three dozen would-be asylum seekers from Russia found themselves blocked from entering the US while a group of Ukrainians flashed passports and were escorted across the border. AP

Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion of their homeland pass through a checkpoint to enter the US after authorities granted permission to remain in the country until 2023. Reuters

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Maksim Derzhko calls it one of the most terrifying experiences of his life. A long-time opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, he flew from Vladivostok to the Mexican border city of Tijuana with his 14-year-daughter and was in a car with seven other Russians.

All that separated them from claiming asylum in the US was an American customs officer standing in traffic as vehicles inched toward inspection booths.

The emotions are “hard to put into words”, he says. “It’s fear. The unknown. It’s really hard. We had no choice.”

The gamble worked. After spending a day in custody, Mr Derzkho was released to seek asylum with his daughter, joining thousands of Russians who have recently taken the same route to America.

Even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine led to punishing sanctions from the US and its allies, the country was already seeing an increase in Russian asylum-seekers. More than 8,600 Russians sought refuge on the US border with Mexico from August through January — 35 times the 249 who did so during the same period a year earlier. Nine in 10 used official border crossings in San Diego, California.

Migrants from other former Soviet republics follow the same route in lower numbers, though some authorities are now anticipating more Ukrainians. The US admitted a Ukrainian family of four on humanitarian grounds on Thursday after twice blocking her.

Russians do not need visas to visit Mexico, unlike the US. Many fly from Moscow to Cancun, entering Mexico as tourists, and go to Tijuana, where they pool money to squeeze into cars they buy or rent.

Adrenaline rushes as they approach San Diego’s San Ysidro border crossing, where about 30,000 cars enter the US daily.

Concrete barriers funnel 24 lanes of traffic to a border marked by a few rows of yellow reflector bumps — like the ones that divide highway lanes — before vehicles reach inspection booths. A buffer zone separates the bumps from the inspection booths.

Migrants just have to reach that buffer zone to claim asylum on US soil. But US officers stationed on the Mexican side of the border first try to block them, peering into vehicles, motioning motorists to flash travel documents and stopping cars they deem suspicious.

“It was a very scary moment for all of us to experience,” Mr Derzhko, who crossed in August, said in an interview at his home in Los Angeles, California. “The children with us, everyone was very worried, very much.”

Russians swap travel tips on social media and messaging services. One unidentified man narrated his trip from Moscow’s Red Square to a San Diego hotel room, with layovers in Cancun and Mexico City, Mexico.

His YouTube video shows him confessing to nerves after buying a used car in Tijuana, but he says later in San Diego that everything went smoothly — despite two days in US custody — and that others considering the journey shouldn’t be afraid.

Russians are virtually guaranteed a shot at asylum if they touch US soil. But cost, logistics and strained diplomatic relations make it difficult to send people of some nationalities home.

Russians and others from former Soviet republics favour driving through official crossings, rather than trying to cross illegally in deserts and mountains. They generally do not hire smugglers, but “a facilitator” may help arrange travel, said Chad Plantz, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in San Diego.

While Moscow to Cancun is the most common route, some Russians fly from Amsterdam or Paris to Mexico City and then go to Tijuana, Mr Plantz said.

It has produced some tense confrontations.

In one, a 29-year-old Russian man accelerated after passing the reflector bumps at San Ysidro on December 12 and slammed the brakes, causing a sedan with six Russian asylum-seekers to hit him from behind. An officer fired four shots but no one was injured by gunfire, according to CBP, which says the incident is under investigation.

The SUV driver hit the gas in a state of excitement when he saw an opening between lanes, his lawyer, Martin Molina, told a judge earlier this month. Eleven other Russians, including the man’s wife, 5-year-old daughter and year-old son were in the SUV. Passengers raised their hands and yelled, “Asylum!”

“All that he saw were the bright lights of San Ysidro,” Molina said. “He wanted to get there.”

The judge ordered the driver released after nearly three months in jail. The man, who opposed Russian intervention in the Chechnya region, planned to seek asylum with his family in Brooklyn, New York.

Other incidents have raised security concerns, Mr Plantz said. Also on Dec. 12, the driver of a car with migrants from Ukraine and Tajikistan ignored an officer’s orders to show identification and struck the officer’s hand with a car door mirror when accelerating past him, according to court documents.

“They’re probably a little disoriented themselves, not sure exactly what they’re doing, but they are failing to yield, hitting the gas, blowing through,” Mr Plantz said.

A federal judge in San Diego has ruled it is illegal to block asylum-seekers but has not given specific instructions, allowing authorities to continue their practices. Erika Pinheiro, litigation and policy director for Al Otro Lado, an advocacy group that sued over asylum limits at border crossings, said U.S. authorities coordinate with Mexican officials to keep migrants from reaching the buffer zone.

Yuliya Pashkova, a San Diego attorney who represents Russian asylum-seekers, traces the spike in arrivals to the imprisonment of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny last year. Asylum-seekers include President Putin opponents, Muslims and business owners who have been extorted by authorities.

“When they think of America, they think of freedom, democracy and, frankly, a good economic situation,” she said.