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A26 u.s. news
Diamars 15 maart 2022

More Russians find ways around sweeping US asylum limits

(AP) — Maksim Derzhko lina, told a judge earlier this
calls it one of the most month. Eleven other Rus-
terrifying experiences of sians, including the man’s
his life. A longtime oppo- wife, 5-year-old daughter
nent of Russian President and year-old son were in the
Vladimir Putin, he flew SUV. Passengers raised their
from Vladivostok to the hands and yelled, “Asylum!”
Mexican border city of
Tijuana with his 14-year- “All that he saw were the
daughter and was in a car bright lights of San Ysidro,”
with seven other Russians. Molina said. “He wanted to
All that separated them get there.”
from claiming asylum in
the United States was a The judge ordered the driver
U.S. officer standing in released after nearly three
traffic as vehicles inched months in jail. The Associ-
toward inspection booths. ated Press is not identifying
him at the request of Molina,
The emotions are “hard to who said his client feared
put into words,” he says. “It’s exposure may jeopardize his
fear. The unknown. It’s really safety. The man, who op-
hard. We had no choice.” posed Russian intervention
in the Chechnya region,
The gamble worked. After planned to seek asylum with
spending a day in custody, his family in Brooklyn, New
Derzkho was released to seek zone separates the bumps nerves after buying a used car arrange travel, said Chad York.
asylum with his daughter, from the inspection booths. in Tijuana, but he says later Plantz, special agent in charge
joining thousands of Rus- in San Diego that everything of Homeland Security Inves- Other incidents have raised
sians who have recently taken Migrants just have to reach went smoothly — despite tigations in San Diego. security concerns, Plantz
the same route to America. that buffer zone to claim asy- two days in U.S. custody said. Also on Dec. 12, the
lum on U.S. soil. But U.S. — and that others consider- While Moscow to Cancun driver of a car with migrants
Even before Russia’s inva- officers stationed on the ing the journey shouldn’t be is the most common route, from Ukraine and Tajikistan
sion of Ukraine led to pun- Mexican side of the border afraid. some Russians fly from Am- ignored an officer’s orders
ishing sanctions from the first try to block them, peer- sterdam or Paris to Mexico to show identification and
U.S. and its allies, the United ing into vehicles, motion- Russians are virtually guaran- City and then go to Tijuana, struck the officer’s hand with
States was already seeing an ing motorists to flash travel teed a shot at asylum if they Plantz said. a car door mirror when accel-
increase in Russian asylum- documents and stopping cars touch U.S. soil, even though erating past him, according to
seekers. More than 8,600 they deem suspicious. President Joe Biden has kept It has produced some tense court documents.
Russians sought refuge on sweeping, Trump-era asylum confrontations.
the U.S. border with Mexico “It was a very scary moment restrictions. Border agents “They’re probably a little
from August through January for all of us to experience,” can deny migrants a chance to In one, a 29-year-old Rus- disoriented themselves, not
— 35 times the 249 who did Derzhko, who crossed in seek asylum on the grounds sian man accelerated after sure exactly what they’re do-
so during the same period a August, said in an interview that it risks spreading CO- passing the reflector bumps ing, but they are failing to
year earlier. Nine in 10 used at his home in Los Angeles. VID-19. But cost, logistics at San Ysidro on Dec. 12 and yield, hitting the gas, blowing
official border crossings in “The children with us, every- and strained diplomatic rela- slammed the brakes, causing through,” Plantz said.
San Diego. one was very worried, very tions make it difficult to send a sedan with six Russian asy-
much.” people of some nationalities lum-seekers to hit him from A federal judge in San Diego
Migrants from other former home. behind. An officer fired four has ruled it is illegal to block
Soviet republics follow the Russians swap travel tips on shots but no one was injured asylum-seekers but has not
same route in lower num- social media and messaging Russians and others from by gunfire, according to CBP, given specific instructions,
bers, though some authori- services. One unidentified former Soviet republics fa- which says the incident is un- allowing authorities to con-
ties are now anticipating man narrated his trip from vor driving through official der investigation. tinue their practices. Erika
more Ukrainians. The U.S. Moscow’s Red Square to a crossings, rather than trying Pinheiro, litigation and poli-
admitted a Ukrainian fam- San Diego hotel room, with to cross illegally in deserts The SUV driver hit the gas cy director for Al Otro Lado,
ily of four on humanitarian layovers in Cancun and Mex- and mountains. They gener- in a state of excitement when an advocacy group that sued
grounds Thursday after twice ico City. His YouTube video ally do not hire smugglers, he saw an opening between over asylum limits at border
blocking her. shows him confessing to but “a facilitator” may help lanes, his lawyer, Martin Mo- crossings, said U.S. authori-
ties coordinate with Mexi-
Russians do not need visas to can officials to keep migrants
visit Mexico, unlike the U.S. from reaching the buffer
Many fly from Moscow to zone.
Cancun, entering Mexico as
tourists, and go to Tijuana, Yuliya Pashkova, a San Diego
where they pool money to attorney who represents Rus-
squeeze into cars they buy sian asylum-seekers, traces
or rent. Adrenaline rushes as the spike in arrivals to the
they approach San Diego’s imprisonment of Russian op-
San Ysidro border crossing, position leader Alexei Naval-
where about 30,000 cars en- ny last year. Asylum-seekers
ter the United States daily. include Putin opponents, gay
people, Muslims and busi-
Concrete barriers funnel 24 ness owners who have been
lanes of traffic to a border extorted by authorities.
marked by a few rows of yel-
low reflector bumps — like “When they think of Ameri-
the ones that divide highway ca, they think of freedom, de-
lanes — before vehicles reach mocracy and, frankly, a good
inspection booths. A buffer economic situation,” she said.