The number of immigrants from former Soviet countries on the US-Mexico border is increasing

2023-08-12 20:30:33, Kosova & Bota CNA

The number of immigrants from former Soviet countries on the US-Mexico border is

Despite efforts by the United States to curb immigration, the flow of migrants to the border with Mexico continues. But immigrants from Central and South America are not the only part of this flow. To learn more about the hardships of these immigrants, VOA spoke with one immigrant in Tijuana and another in Reynosa.

A number of immigrants from Tajikistan, a Central Asian country that was part of the former Soviet Union, have made their way to the United States.

They are in Mexico, where they sought asylum because of the war in Ukraine.

"I want to go to America," says Fajodi from Tajikistan.

Immigration officials say they are seeing an increase in asylum seekers from former Soviet countries.

The Mexican government says the number of immigrants from Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan nearly doubled from 2021 to 2022, and the number is growing.

Journalist Ulanbek Asanaliev, who works for the Uzbek service of Radio Free Europe, has closely followed their journey.

"Sometimes they come into contact with criminals and drug traffickers," he says.

Asanaliev learned that many of the asylum seekers had Russian citizenship and may have received an invitation to participate in the war in Ukraine. To avoid being drafted into the war, they have decided to leave the country.

"More than 1 million people from Kurdistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan work in Russia. After the start of the war in Ukraine, the situation in Russia changed," he says.

Many of these migrants are traveling to the Mexican border cities of Tijuana and Reynosa. Carlos Victor Peña Ortiz is the mayor of Reynosa.

"Many people from Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and many other countries are now crossing this border. The flow of migrants continues to grow," he says.

Most of them arrive first in Mexico City or Cancun before going to cities near the border with the United States.

But many immigrants from the former Soviet countries of Central Asia do not go to shelters to seek help, says Enrique Lucero, director of the Office of Immigrant Affairs in Tijuana.

"As with immigrants from Asia, Russia and Kazakhstan, people from all those regions are staying in hotels," he says.

But a large number of immigrants were forced to give up everything to reach Mexico. Fajoudi says it took him 4 months to get to Mexico, hoping to get asylum in the United States.