A woman with three children who escaped from the war in Ukraine was not allowed to visit her Californian brother in the USA

Leading Senate Democrats have demanded that the Biden administration immediately end Trump-era policies that prevent migrants seeking asylum from crossing land borders into the United States. Lawyers speak of egregious case in which U.S. Customs and Border Protection expelled a single mother of three who came from Ukraine seeking asylum, reports TheWashington Post.

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Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (DN.Y.) quoted the "desperate" Ukrainian family at a March 10 press conference and said he was deeply disappointed that the Biden administration had adopted Trump-era policies. The Trump administration issued an order two years ago under Section 42, which is the public health code. Since then, officials have sent more than 1,6 million migrants to countries like Haiti and Mexico.

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“The United States should welcome refugees with open arms, not put them in further danger by depriving them of their own interests and leaving them at the mercy of criminals and smugglers,” said Schumer, who was joined by immigrant advocates. "It's time to stop the madness."

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Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, added that the policy "created life-threatening conditions" for migrants. He called on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which issued the order under Donald Trump and extended it under Biden, to rescind it.

Biden promised during his campaign to restore the asylum process for migrants, especially on the southwestern border. A CDC spokesman said officials updated the order this year due to the pandemic and high omicron transfer rates and will review it again later this month.

Immigrant advocates have repeatedly sued the policy, claiming it endangers migrants and violates federal law. A bench of the District of Columbia federal appeals court on March 11 unanimously stated that the CDC did not provide evidence that the order prevented the spread of the coronavirus. The panel told the Biden administration that migrant families could no longer be sent to countries where they would face persecution (citing reports that migrants were raped, tortured and killed after being expelled). The decision is expected to take effect in the coming weeks after the court formally issues the mandate.

A separate ruling on March 11, in a lawsuit filed by Republican officials in Texas who support the removal, dismissed the Biden administration's policy of freeing migrant children traveling without a parent or guardian. The order is not expected to have much of an impact because Mexico generally does not accept children traveling alone.

The Justice Department has not said if it plans to appeal any of the decisions, and the Department of Homeland Security has yet to say how those decisions will affect its operations.

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DHS spokeswoman Marsha Espinosa said the agency continues to remove migrants and exempt "particularly vulnerable Section 42 individuals on a case-by-case basis."

A Ukrainian family, cited by lawmakers at a March 10 press conference, tried to enter the United States this week after fleeing a Russian invasion. They were trying to reunite with a cousin who is a US citizen and has lived in Northern California for a long time.

Sofia, 34, who identified herself only by her first name because her family is hiding in basements in Ukraine, said in a phone interview that they lived well in Ukraine. She taught Hebrew and lived in her father's house. They fled when their houses were bombed.

“I seriously feared for my life and the lives of my children,” she said in English. It is one of four languages ​​that he speaks.

The refugee said that she and the children - 6, 12 and 14 years old - threw suitcases full of clothes and medicines into her old Citroen and drove straight to Moldova, the nearest border, and then to Romania, where they went to Germany and boarded a flight to Mexico. The Ukrainian woman said they tried to enter the country legally twice, once by car and again on foot. But officials, citing a Section 42 order, denied them both times.

“In any other case, I would not have left, I’m sure, because there (in Ukraine) I still have family and friends,” she said.

“I was surprised that they didn’t even want to listen,” Sofia was perplexed. “I tried to tell them that I had all the necessary tests, I was vaccinated, but the answer I heard was: “No, no and no.”

She regretted not speaking Spanish and was crying on a bridge in Mexico when lawyer Blaine Buki spotted her. Buki, legal director of the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies at UC Hastings School of Law, was there with her students to help Haitian migrants facing similar challenges.

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The customs and border guards told Buka that they would consider accepting the Ukrainian family. They planned to try again on March 10, she said, adding that shelters in Mexico are filled with other potential refugees who are not allowed to enter.

“There are families that appear on the border from various countries with the same level of violence. They deserve the asylum process, Buki said. “This case really shows people how problematic this policy is.”

Later it became known that The Department of Homeland Security said it accepted the Ukrainian family "after we reviewed the facts of their case" and continues to help "particularly vulnerable" people on a case-by-case basis, reports Yahoo News.

The next morning, Erica Pinheiro, litigation and policy director for Al Otro Lado, the human rights group that helped the family, said she received a call from Customs and Border Protection telling the woman to pack her belongings and be ready to leave as soon as possible. . A few hours later, the Ukrainian family was told to return to the port of entry.

Their entry into the United States was overseen by another Ukrainian woman, a 27-year-old woman who asked to be identified only as Christina. She is still stuck on the Mexican side with her fiancé, a US citizen.

Kristina fled to Poland, but the hotels and apartments were overcrowded. So she flew to Mexico, where her fiancé met her, to help her get to the United States.

Cristina said she also tried to cross the border on March 9 and asked for asylum but was denied because of Section 42. The couple returned to the border on March 10 but were denied again without explanation.

“They don’t listen to us,” Christina said.

After spending five hours waiting on March 10, Christina collapsed and was carried away by her fiancé, who said they were stressed and exhausted and on their way to a hotel in Tijuana.

“Why don’t they just want to talk to us? - said her fiance. “We don’t know what to do.”

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