US detained 5,071 Ukrainians in March: US Customs, Border Protection
Attempts to illegally enter the US increased fivefold in March in comparison with February statistics.
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Facilities at the US-Mexico border have poor conditions. (Reuters)
Border patrol detained almost 5 times more Ukrainians in March than they detained in February, amounting to the detainment of 5,071 Ukrainians last month, according to statistics released by the US Customs and Border Protection on Monday.
Attempts to illegally enter the US increased fivefold in March in comparison with February statistics, when just over 1,100 Ukrainians were detained on the US border, particularly in the southwest.
According to official data, over the past few years, the number of Ukrainians caught and detained for attempting to cross the border was constant and usually averaged on a number just under 1,000.
The sudden influx of Ukrainians fleeing the war comes in parallel with an increase in detentions on US sea and air borders. In March, nearly 250,000 people were detained at the borders, compared to 190,000 in February.
Read more: US detained 2 million migrant throughout 2021
Many of the Ukrainians that were detained were released into US territory after being granted humanitarian parole, according to the Washington Post.
The US administration on Monday granted Ukrainians protected status for another 18 months.
Around 5 million Ukrainians have fled their country since the beginning of the war in February.
Because they're not White
Last December, a group of Haitian migrants filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the US government, following their "humiliating" experience at the US border with Mexico in Del Rio, Texas.
The experience with Border Patrol agents, who were on horseback, gained infamy as a result of the agents' use of violence.
US Border Patrol agents try to stop Haitian migrants entering an encampment on the banks of the Rio Grande in Del Rio, Texas.
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) September 20, 2021
US says it will ramp up deportation flights for migrants flooding into Del Rio as authorities scramble to alleviate a burgeoning crisis
📸Paul Ratje pic.twitter.com/m39J1yAzRq
“To see people treated like they did, horses barely running them over and people being strapped. It was outrageous,” US President Joe Biden said at the time. “I promise those people will pay,” yet nothing has materialized so far.
Joseph, the man pictured being grabbed by the shirt by a Border Patrol agent, said the encounter was the "most humiliating experience of my life."
The lawsuit accused the Biden administration of failing to prepare for the migrant influx, despite being aware of their arrival. It also places responsibility on the government for the physical and verbal abuse of the migrants, and failure to provide due process because of Title 42.
Title 42 is a public health order enacted under former president Donald Trump, which allows for the swift removal of migrants under the excuse of public health reasons (meaning COVID-19). The Biden administration made use of the order to force out tens of thousands of migrants.
The lawsuit says that Title 42 was "brutally deployed against Haitians," and that the Department of Homeland Security violated the rights of asylum-seeking Haitians.
