• A refugee camp on the US-Mexico border has seen a sharp increase in Ukrainian refugees, Reuters reported.
  • Biden recently announced that the US would welcome up to 100,000 refugees from Ukraine. 
  • The Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused over 10 million people to be displaced. 

A makeshift refugee camp in the Mexican city of Tijuana, on the US-Mexico border, is seeing a rapid increase in arrivals from Ukraine after President Biden said the US would welcome up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees. 

Reuters reports that roughly 600 people are camping near the border entry point, and around 500 are staying in nearby hotels. 

Ukrainians who recently arrived to Mexico camp out to try to get into the U.S. at the San Ysidro Port of Entry of the U.S.-Mexico border, in Tijuana, Mexico Foto: REUTERS/Jorge Duenes

The site also reports that Ukrainian refugees arriving at the camp are waiting roughly a day to go, from having their names noted down on a handwritten list compiled by volunteers – including US citizens from Ukraine or who speak Russian – to making the border crossing into the US. 

 

Enrique Lucero, Tijuana's migration affairs director, told Reuters that roughly 40% of the refugees arriving in Tijuana are children. 

"I couldn't cry in Ukraine. I thank you even for my tears," she said. "For this place, this food, and the dream of life until [Ukraine's] victory."

Ukrainians who are staying in a refugee camp in Tijuana, Mexico, distract a child staying there. Foto: REUTERS/Jorge Duenes

Photos from the camp show people huddled in blankets, flying Ukrainian flags, and surrounded by their luggage. Thee is no access to running water, said Reuters.

Valentina Shymanveska, a 56-year-old refugee from the besieged city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, said she was relieved to have made it to Tijuana. "I couldn't cry in Ukraine. I thank you even for my tears," she said. "For this place, this food, and the dream of life until victory," she told Reuters.

Ukrainian who have fled their home town wait at a camp for refugees at the US-Mexico border in Tijuana, Mexico. Foto: REUTERS/Jorge Duenes

The UN says 10.5 million people have been displaced by Russia's invasion, including those still within the war-torn country and those who have fled. 

After visiting Ukraine for the first time since the Russian invasion, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said, "the needs here in Ukraine are growing, and the international community must continue to stand with Ukrainians in need."

 

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