For Star subscribers: We've been turning away migrants fleeing violence and economic collapse at the U.S.-Mexico border. We should be treating those migrants more like we do Ukrainians fleeing war.
Tim Steller It struck many people as heartless in early March when U.S. border officials turned away Ukrainian families seeking to enter this country at the border with Mexico.Reporters flocked to Tijuana to tell their story, and days later officials let the Ukrainian families cross into San Diego. Now, special treatment for Ukrainians is enshrined in policy.
What makes the Ukrainian exodus seem different from others is the suddenness and extreme violence of Russia's invasion. But the fact that they're white-skinned Europeans from a Christian culture undoubtedly makes a difference in public perception as well. By this year, about 6 million people had fled Syria, a huge number but of a similar scale and at a slower pace than the Ukrainian flight.
Between independence in 1991 and this year's Russian invasion, about 2.5 million Ukrainian migrants had left the country for economic opportunities elsewhere, according to a European Union report. About half of them went to EU countries, especially after Russia's first invasion in 2014. Ukrainians are similar to other migrants who have arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border in that they're both economically disadvantaged and are fleeing political crises and violence. In that sense, they're not so different from Hondurans, who came to the United States in surges during the Obama and Trump presidencies, but were often accused of simply being economic migrants.
When Ukrainians fled their hometowns, though, many stayed within their country, displaced domestically, while others stopped in neighboring countries like Poland, and others went to distant places. This, too, is a pattern showing up among Ukrainians that previously has been evident among Syrians, Guatemalans and other migrant nationalities.
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