WASHINGTON — Starting Monday, Ukrainians fleeing the war with Russia will need sponsors before being allowed into the United States. And they’ll be turned away if they show up at the Southwest border to request asylum — a policy intended to cut the flow of refugees traveling through Mexico.
Roughly 15,000 Ukrainians have entered the United States at land crossings from Mexico since Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24, nearly all through Tijuana and San Diego, with a relative handful coming into Texas.
The policy announced Thursday, dubbed "Uniting for Ukraine," will make it easier for refugees sponsored by a family or aid group to reach the United States directly from Europe, even as it makes it harder for those who go to Mexico first.
“Ukrainians should not travel to Mexico to pursue entry into the United States,” the White House said. “Ukrainians who present at land U.S. ports of entry without a valid visa or without pre-authorization to travel to the United States through Uniting for Ukraine will be denied entry and referred to apply through this program.”
A month ago in Brussels and Warsaw, President Joe Biden announced that the United States will accept 100,000 refugees from Ukraine. European allies are absorbing millions, many of them women and children. Most men are barred from leaving because they may be needed in the war effort.
The White House cast the new rules as a way to ease the burdens on refugees fleeing to the United States while also making the process more orderly. It will also ease pressure on the Southwest border, where record numbers of migrants from Mexico and other Latin American nations have been pouring in for months.
“We’ve already welcomed tens of thousands of Ukrainians to the United States,” Biden said at the White House. “This program will be fast. It will be streamlined. It will ensure the United States honors its commitment to the people of Ukraine and (they) need not go through our southern border.”
Unlike the United States, Mexico and most of Europe accept travelers from Ukraine without a visa.
That has made Mexico an enticing destination for refugees trying to join family in the United States.
Until early February, Customs and Border Patrol recorded only a trickle of encounters with Ukrainians at the border. In March, the tally spiked to 3,274 — 10 times higher than in previous months. That pushed Ukraine into the top 10 countries of origin, a list dominated by Mexico and some of its neighbors.
Deterring the flow of Ukrainians through Mexico is a central aim of the new policy.
“The United States strongly encourages Ukrainians seeking refuge in the United States who do not have and are not eligible for a visa to seek entry via Uniting for Ukraine from Europe,” the White House said after Biden spoke with reporters.
The program is open to residents of Ukraine as of Feb. 11, roughly two weeks before Russia invaded.
Starting Monday, individuals and organizations — religious groups and others that help refugees — can apply to sponsor displaced Ukrainians, promising financial support.
Ukrainians matched to a sponsor may remain in the United States for up to two years, and will be eligible to work.
Roughly 800 Ukrainians have been arriving daily in Tijuana this month.
The Biden administration will lift Title 42 as of May 23, ending the use of an emergency pandemic-related rule to expel and reject migrants.
Border authorities have been granting exceptions to Ukrainians. That will end on Monday.
“We will apply Title 42 to all nationalities at the border,” a senior official said in a briefing call with reporters. “Ukrainian nationals who present and do not have a visa or have not gone through the Uniting for Ukraine program will no longer be paroled in, unless they have some other factor that would lead a border official — a CBP officer — to make a case by case determination that they do merit a humanitarian exemption from Title 42 for a different reason that is not just because they are a national of Ukraine.”
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