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TIJUANA, MEXICO As the sun rose over the San Ysidro port of entry Thursday, Mikhail lay curled over his wife, donated blankets covering them and their makeshift cot. An arms length from where the Russian couple slept, coils of barbed wire hung low, a reminder that they are not currently welcome on the U.S. side of the border.

Mikhail had left Russia in a hurry, two days after the country of his fathers birth invaded the country of his mothers. He had been living on borrowed time since 2014, when he ripped up his conscription notice refusing to fight in the war against Crimea. If he was ever caught, he said, it would mean a 15-year prison term.

I will never fight a war where I can kill innocent people, people who might be my cousins, my aunts, Mikhail said in Russian. Its all just wrong.

Mikhail and his wife Natasha are part of a group of Russians, 19 adults and five children, camped out at the San Ysidro border gate, hoping to be allowed into the United States to stake claims of asylum.

Thousands more Russians traveled to this part of the border before the invasion, an exodus that began after the imprisonment of a popular opposition leader last year. They are able to fly into the Central American country without visas, making this leg of the journey simpler than it is for most migrants who arrive here seeking asylum. But once here, they join a migrant crisis that has only grown more complex since former President Trump closed the border to asylum seekers because of the pandemic.

The Chronicle is identifying migrants by their first names, as all expressed fear of retaliation if they were returned to Russia.

Kristina, a Ukrainian refugee and former nail salon owner from Kiev, who has been denied entry to the U.S. three times, pleads with a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer to reconsider. She said she feels so tired of all this, two weeks of this back and forth. I feel empty. There is no country to go back to in Ukraine. Photographed at the San Ysidro port of entry in Tijuana, Mexico on Thursday, March 17, 2022.

Mikhail has a cousin in Cupertino. His goal is to make it to her home, and from there, start to rebuild the life he suddenly abandoned in Russia.

Yet Mikhails Russian passport is as big a problem as Title 42, a Trump-era policy the Biden administration continues to enforce, which cites the COVID-19 pandemic as a basis for the rapid expulsion of migrants and has effectively shut the border to asylum seekers.

On Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas told reporters that Border Patrol agents were reminded they have some leeway with regard to enforcing Title 42, particularly when it comes to those fleeing the crisis in Ukraine, BuzzFeed News reported.

This was policy guidance that reminded (border officers) of those individualized determinations and their applicability to Ukrainian nationals as they apply to everyone else, the online news outlet quoted Mayorkas as telling reporters.

This follows a March 11 Department of Homeland Security memo informing U.S. Customs and Border Protection that the agency can, on a case-by-case basis, let those with valid Ukrainian documents bypass Title 42 restrictions that would otherwise keep them from crossing the border because of the unjustified war of aggression in Ukraine and the humanitarian crisis its caused.

DHS didnt immediately respond to questions about whether its discretionary guidance could be applied to Russian migrants who oppose their government's war and fear what may happen if theyre forced to return.

When Russias latest war began, Mikhail, a photographer and designer, shuttered his familys printing press in the lakeside town of Pereslavl-Zalessky and joined thousands of others who have reportedly fled Russia, fiercely opposed to their governments war in Ukraine.

As it is for many, the war is personal for Mikhail. While he grew up in Russia, he feels equally Ukrainian, having spent his life visiting his mothers siblings and their children there. Now his little cousins are refugees in Poland, their fathers still at home, part of the Ukrainian resistance.

As Mikhail began what has become his morning ritual folding his blankets and neatly stacking them on a picnic chair, followed by some calisthenics a handful of Ukrainian families presented their blue passports to border officials and walked into San Diego.

The 35-year-old said he didnt begrudge border authorities decision to let them cross, but wondered if he and his wife will get the same chance. Despite being a son of both nations, he and Natasha have only Russian passports.

Tell me what should I/we do? Mikhail asked in a translated text to The Chronicle Wednesday evening. What should the people who came here and they are against the war, they are against Putin and his regime, (do)?

Some residents of Tijuana who walked across the border headed to work or school in San Diego, eyed the group of white migrants, remarking in Spanish that they were being treated better than the darker-skinned migrants they usually encounter here.

Its a reality not lost on Julia, a 26-year-old Russian IT worker who fled her St. Petersburg home the day Russian President Vladimir Putin began waging war. Thursday was her fourth day at the border gate.

She said she realized other migrants before her have been cleared out from the small patch of concrete that she and her fellow Russians currently occupy. Maybe it's because we're Europeans, Julia said. That's not fair, I think.

Yet here she stays, sleeping on nothing more than a couple of blankets, far from her life in St. Petersburg.

Julia said the group shes with has refused offers of shelter from Mexican officials because of their homegrown distrust of government. Interacting with the authorities in Russia (during) your life (leaves) the most insecure feeling, so here (the Russian migrants) are just afraid, she said. If they leave the border gate, she suggested, maybe they wont be allowed back.

Russian refugees wait at the U.S.-Mexico border outside the San Ysidro port of entry in Tijuana on Wednesday, March 16, 2022.

Julia and her husband, Anton, 27, an American literature Ph.D. candidate and English teacher, were active protesters last year when Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was imprisoned. Police cracked down hard. The couple escaped arrest, but others were not so lucky.

I feel this guilt because I couldn't do anything and they were beating the people who were protesting with us, Julia said.

The day before Russia invaded Ukraine was a normal one for the couple. Julia attended a yoga class and stopped by the bakery. When she arrived at the apartment, Anton said he believed that their president was about to attack Ukraine.

They left Russia the next morning.

Julia feared Anton would get conscripted to serve. I don't want him to participate in this (war) because it's a crime, she said.

So they wait at the U.S.-Mexico border, passing time below the spirals of barbed wire. The only English-speakers of the group, they keep busy translating for their fellow Russians. Anton speaks fluent Spanish as well, so he translates when Mexican officials or volunteers come by with food and offers of shelter.

Anton says he thinks often of family and friends he left behind. They connect by WhatsApp constantly. He hopes the Biden administration will begin to recognize dissident Russians like him and his wife, stalled at the fourth busiest land border in the world, as refugees in need of a home.

Of the home he left, he said, I think the most common sentiment in Russia is just fear.

Deepa Fernandes is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: deepa.fernandes@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @deepafern

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They protested Putin and fled their country. Now, Russians opposed to the war can't get across the U.S. border - San Francisco Chronicle

March 18, 2022 | Austin, Texas | Press Release

Governor Greg Abbott, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), and the Texas National Guard are continuing to work together to secure the border, stop the smuggling of drugs, weapons, and people into Texas, and prevent, detect, and interdict transnational criminal behavior between ports of entry.Since the launch of Operation Lone Star, multi-agency efforts have led to more than 215,000 migrant apprehensions, along with more than 12,400 charges for criminal offenses including more than 9,900 felony charges. Over 3,300 weapons and almost $30 million in currency have been seized. In the fight against fentanyl, DPS has seized over 288 million lethal doses throughout the state.RECENT HIGHLIGHTS FROM OPERATION LONE STAR:VIDEO: Governor Abbott Gives Update On Texas Border Wall, Operation Lone StarLast week, Governor Abbott spoke exclusively with Breitbart News in Eagle Pass on the steps Texas is taking to secure the border and build the wall. The Governor discussed the state's acquisition of border wall panels from the federal government, the terrifying impact of the border crisis on Texas landowners along the border, the fentanyl crisis, and more.We've apprehended enough fentanyl to kill every man, woman, and child in Texas, and fentanyl is the leading cause of death in the United States for people between the age of 18 and 45not COVID-19, not cancer, not car wrecks, not gunsits fentanyl," said Governor Abbott. "In Texas, more than 1,300 people lost their lives over the past year because of fentanyl. There are lives that have been lost because of the Biden Administrations refusal to secure the border, and conversely there are lives that have been saved by the all of the fentanyl and other drugs weve seized through Operation Lone Star."

DPS Apprehends 62 Migrants Following Tanker Truck Pursuit in South TexasA man is facing charges after leading DPS troopers and other law enforcement on a vehicle pursuit through two South Texas counties.On the evening of March 11, 2022, a white Kenworth truck tractor towing a tanker bypassed a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint on U.S. 83 in Webb County. Border Patrol initiated a pursuit, but the driver of the tanker refused to stop. As part of Operation Lone Star, DPS Troopers took over the pursuit, which went into the city of Cotulla in La Salle County.Inside the tanker, Troopers located 62 migrants who were being smuggled into the U.S.; none were injured. All were referred back to U.S. Border Patrol. The 41-year-old male driver of the truck is a U.S. citizen with a criminal history that includes human smuggling. Charges are likely. A DPS Trooper was also injured in the incident. He has since been treated and released from Frio Regional Hospital in Pearsall.

Texas National Guard Launch More Aggressive Approach At Rio Grande RiverGovernor Abbott announced this week that the Texas National Guard are taking more aggressive action at the Rio Grande River to prevent unlawful migrants from entering the United States altogether and turning them back to Mexico. Different actions include installing razor wire along the river and using boats to create a boat blockade.

OLS Elite Brush Team Apprehends Large Migrant Group In Jim Hogg CountyOn Wednesday, March 9, an Operation Lone Star Elite Brush Team partnered with Border Patrol to capture 24 unlawful migrants in Jim Hogg County, 14 of which were were arrested for criminal trespass. Operation Lone Star's Elite Brush Teams consists of DPS troopers and Texas National Guard soldiers who serve as the last line defense against transnational criminal behavior. The brush teams use a variety of sensors, tracking systems, and other techniques to identify individuals and their country of origin as well as their intended destination.Over the last 90 days, the brush teams have supported more than 1,000 apprehensions along the Texas-Mexico border. Approximately 30% of these individuals apprehended had a prior criminal record for activities such as sexual assault, drug smuggling, and human smuggling.

VIDEO: Texas National Guard Builds Border Barriers, Secures The BorderThe men and women of the Texas National Guard continue to build barriers that serve as a visible and physical impediment to the smuggling of people and drugs into Texas. So far, 23 miles of concertina wire and chain link fencing have been installed along the border. Texas National Guard soldiers also play a critical role in Operation Lone Star to prevent, detect, and interdict transnational criminal behavior between the ports of entry.

Read more:
ICYMI: Operation Lone Star Continues To Secure The Border, Crack Down On Human Smuggling - Office of the Texas Governor

Waking up in a car parked on a muddy alleyway 30 minutes from the front lines of the Battle for Kharkiv was an inconceivable notion to me 3 days ago. Yet in the front seat of a beaten down Jeep Cherokee, I slept. Artillery blasts and other sounds of war created a cacophony of destruction throughout the night. However, in a world where a former US President is refusing to outright condemn the barbaric and terroristic actions unleashed by the tyrannical head of Russia against a steadfast ally, and an out transgender journalist is at the front lines of the major European land war in 2022, is anything truly inconceivable?

No.

Related: Republican senator asks transgender girl about her genitals

More than six years ago, pre-transition, I embarked on an attempt to cover the Syrian Refugee Crisis. Beginning in Turkey, and then heading into the Balkans, I crossed Europe, ending my voyage on the shores of the English Channel by spending several days in Calais, France inside the sprawling migrant encampment known as The Jungle.

In total, I went overland across 11 countries following the stories of these displaced peoples from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, as well as several African nations, while also examining a European Union which was both unprepared and unwilling to fully integrate them into their societies. Ultimately, the book that came from it, Along the Tracks of Tears, was a woefully incomplete look into the lives of those whom I set out to report on, and this failure by me to dive fully into the deepest crevices of their torment is something that had haunted me ever since.

In 2015, I eagerly accepted the opportunity to go into Syria and speak directly with some of those fleeing from their home soil during the civil war there. Going so far as to cross the Bosphorus Strait and travel deep into the eastern part of Turkey, fear eventually swept over me. I caved to concerns of being kidnapped or killed and abruptly canceled my plans. Pangs of regret began to fill me from almost the moment of turning around, weighing heavily on my work.

Another aspect of that sojourn that gnawed at me was living as a male during my travels. At the time, pretending to be a guy wasnt anything new. Id lived as one for almost 40 years at that point, but guilt over the lie had begun to impede all of my undertakings, an impediment magnified by being given space among the majority Muslim male refugees who I presume would otherwise have shunned the true me. And so my publication, weighed down by those two burdens, fell far short of what it could have been.

Years passed.

In the time since, much has happened to me personally and professionally. I published a novel, finally transitioned, and eventually became heavily involved in Nevada politics, the last area leading to the launch of a politics and news portal focused on the state.

Then in 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine and with that arose an opportunity to create a follow-up to my 2015-2016 coverage of the previous European refugee crisis and this time attempt to do it right.

Beginning in Poland and then crossing into Ukraine, before eventually traversing the Ukrainian countryside, I arrived at the front, intent on learning about every aspect of what the victims of the invasion are enduring through photography, interviews, and personal observation. Along the way, I also realized the stories I uncovered, and the intertwined narratives which wove them together, were both much deeper and broader than Id initially comprehended.

That first night we took cover in the darkness, camouflaged against a sky offering a canopy of infinite blackness because it was simply too dangerous to traverse the city streets after curfew. As soon as the light of morning peaked, we headed into the ravaged city, checkpoint after checkpoint lining the streets. While in many areas of Ukraine the blockaded streets are manned by volunteers from the Territorial Defense Forces, those asking for documents in Kharkiv are members of the professional, full-time, Ukrainian Armed Forces. Though we were stopped at an innumerable number of checkpoints on the more than 1,000 km drive through the nations heartland, the last search, the last flash of my credentials upon entering the citys center, was truly the most poignant. It separated me from reading about war, and having listened to it, to witnessing it.

After being waved through into the downtown corridor, destruction enveloped me. Burnt out vehicles, blown out windows, decimated apartment buildings, and deep craters all pocked the landscape. Death too was present.

And yet residents of Kharkiv moved deftly around these reminders of war crimes and terrorism, lining up to get medicine, buy food, and withdraw money from banks, as life continued through 24 hours a day of enemy bombardment and Ukrainian counter-offensives.

The apartment I procured while at the frontlines promised to offer an expansive visage of the city. It didnt disappoint, but as I quickly learned life at war changes hourly, and so Ive spent a total of three hours in the accommodations since I arrived here.

Around 6 pm on my second evening, the group Im embedded with decided to take cover for the evening in a restaurant, and the same on our third. Chairs, some blankets, a pillow, and contagious amounts of patriotic courage from my hosts have helped me find sleep during the explosive nights.

Operating as a hub of activity for various security services, the restaurant is now the location where I work, eat, sleep, and digest the toll that the Russian invasion has taken on the population of Ukraine and the global community as a whole.

Two weeks have gone by since Ive arrived in Europe and 10 days since I entered a nation during the throes of war. In that short span, a realization settled in.

Im not the same writer. Im not the same photographer. Im not the same person.

I came to Ukraine to cover a refugee crisis, Im now reporting on a war.

Is anything truly inconceivable?

No.

Read more:
I'm a transgender journalist covering the war in Ukraine - LGBTQ Nation

'Ministers have offered delay, misdirection, legalism and conditionality. By contrast the public has offered concern, donations, and some are even willing to open their homes'.

Diane Abbottis the Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington

The Ukraine refugee crisis has exposed a glaring contradiction between the response of the Tory government and the generosity of the British people.

Ministers have offered delay, misdirection, legalism and conditionality. By contrast the public has offered concern, donations, and some are even willing to open their homes.

Having previously directed asylum seekers from the Ukraine to a non-existent processing centre in Calais, the government than switched to a secretive and barely-open centre in Lille. At no point were the needs of the refugees themselves put first.

In contrast, members of the public have literally donated millions of pounds. And some are willing to be even more generous.

Some of us have long argued that the various refugee or migrant crises are entirely fictional. We said that these panics were manufactured by ministers desperate to distract from the effects of their own terrible policies. In this they were strongly and repeatedly aided by sections of the press.

For geopolitical reasons, campaigns demonising refugees from the Ukraine are almost completely absent in this crisis. As a result, the natural generosity of large sections of the public easily wins through. We should hear no more of legitimate concerns about migrants and refugees, which is simply prettifying the reactionary government campaigns, aided by the tabloids.

Yet, absence of malice is not proof of fairness. The government is yet to offer any terms for refugees fleeing Ukraine that could in any way be described as generous. Like everyone who is forced to leave their home, the plight of refugees fleeing the Ukraine crisis is a desperate one.

The Home Secretary falsely claims that special provisions have been made when there are no significant provisions for Ukrainians at all. Of course, this highlights a systematic problem with the response to refugees as a whole, a system which is not fit for purpose.

The new Nationality Bill enshrines in law the further mistreatment of asylum-seekers and refugees, and conflates all these with migrants in general. It is so draconian it is possible now that government policy may not even comply with international law.

Other countries, much poorer than Britain have offered effectively an open door to refugees from the Ukraine. This ought to be the standard response in all such conflicts.

However, the treatment of Black and other ethnic minority people trying to flee Ukraine, is so harsh that the Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buhari has publicly complained about the treatment of Africans trying to flee, as has the UNHCR.

This is in line with the treatment by many countries, including this one, of migrants long before the Ukraine conflict. It is a right in international law for people to seek asylum. There is therefore no such thing as an illegal asylum seeker. It is the denial of peoples right to seek asylum that is illegal.

Yet it is reported that 19 people have died in the forests on the border between Belarussia and Poland. They have effectively frozen and starved to death as they attempted to enter Poland. These people are asylum seekers mainly from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

In addition, it is sporadically reported that there is a huge disparity between the treatment of Ukrainian refugees and those from Western and Central Asia, as well as of African people who are forced to flee.

This government has long treated all those fleeing desperate situations in completely inhumane ways. The government even boasts of it. Unlike most other countries, even rights to family reunion are limited, so that children 18 years old and over cannot be reunited with their families, as they are no longer deemed to be immediate family members.

The latest innovation is the sponsorship of refugees by private groups and individuals, the outsourcing of basic humanity. I look forward to Tory MPs making the first move. Perhaps they could use the funds they received from the Russian oligarchs to pay for the sponsorships.

Instead, it is an obligation under international law for the State to accept asylum-seekers and to allow all legitimate claimants refuge. The government must meet its legal and moral obligation to all refugees.

As youre here, we have something to ask you. What we do here to deliver real news is more important than ever. But theres a problem: we need readers like you to chip in to help us survive. We deliver progressive, independent media, that challenges the rights hateful rhetoric. Together we can find the stories that get lost.

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Diane Abbott MP: The government should be more like the British people when it comes to welcoming refugees - Left Foot Forward

On Monday (March 14), journalist-tuned filmmaker Vinod Kapri lamented that a total of 7 migrant workers, who were prominently featured in his anti-Modi propaganda documentary, had voted for the BJP government during the 2020 Bihar elections.

Kapri, who shared the stage with alleged journalist and YouTuber Barkha Dutt, made the revelations during the last day of the 2022 Edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF).

When we were in Bihar, we witnessed the public anger against the (Modi) government You will be surprised that 7 migrant workers had voted for BJP/JDU government, the same party that had caused trouble to them. And this was within 3-4 months of the migrant crisis, he had remarked.

All of them voted (for Modi). They conceded when I asked them about it. This is as if you are in pain and you are ready to forget it. And we saw this even after the 2nd wave of Coronavirus. All the 7 migrant labourers have returned to Delhi and are now engaged in the same occupation as before, Kapri informed.

The journalist-turned filmmaker had directed an 86-minute documentary titled 1232 kms, which was released on Amazon Prime on March 24, 2021, i.e. on the anniversary of the day of the announcement of the first lockdown by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The propaganda film follows the journey of 7 migrant workers from the Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pradesh to their hometown in the Saharsadistrict of Bihar. Vinod Kapri had later published a book by the same name, 1232 Km: The long journey home in May 2021.

He had even vowed to donate the royalties earned from the sale of his book to the 7 migrant workers, whom he endearingly referred to as heroes.

Vinod Kapri has been caught peddling fake news on multiple occasions as part of his sinister propaganda against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP government. Despite all his efforts to indoctrinate the 7 migrant workers into believing the government did nothing for them, they ended up voting for the BJP in Bihar.

The Bihar State Legislative elections were conducted in 3 phases between the months of October and November in 2020. The BJP secured 74 seats while its alliance partner JDU won in 43 constituencies. The saffron party formed the government with the help of its two other allies, namely, Hindustani Awam Morcha (4 seats) and Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP).

To deal with this migrant crisis and facilitate the return of labourers to their home state, the Modi government had flagged off Shramik trains on May 1, 2020. Lakhs of migrant labourers were transported back to their home states through these special trains.

By 25th of May 2020, Indian Railway (IR) operated more than 3,060 SS trains ferried over 40,00,000 passengers, a report published by IIM -B revealed.

According to the officialdata, the Railways had incurred a loss of nearly Rs 1,700 crores after it ran Shramik trains to ferry back the stranded migrant labours from various parts of the country. Informationreceived through an RTI application revealed that the Railways had only earned Rs 428 crore till June 29 and ran 4,615 Shramik trains.

Aware of the adversities the poor had to face due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Narendra Modi govtlaunchedthe 50000 crore Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan to create rural infrastructure and provide jobs to returned migrant workers.

So far, migrants were helping to build the cities. Now, they will get jobs near their homes. Till now, you were assisting in the development of cities. From now onwards, you will help in the development of your villages, your neighborhoods, PM Modi had said when he launched the scheme on June 20, 2020.

In August that year, a nationwide survey by media platform Gaon Connection revealed 74per centof rural Indians and 50 per cent of migrant workers acknowledged that the Modi government cared both for the cities and villages. A total of 25,300 respondents in 179 districts across 20 states and union territories wereinterviewedbetween May 30 and July 16, 2020.

Original post:
Watch: Director rues how he made a documentary showing the plight of migrant workers post COVID lockdown, but all 7 of them voted for BJP - OpIndia