Russian Nationals Attempting to Cross US Southern Border Surges as Ukraine War Drags On

People walk across the Rio Grande to surrender to U.S. Border Patrol agents in El Paso, Texas, as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on Dec. 13, 2022. Herika Martinez/AFP/Getty Images

The number of Russians attempting to try to cross into the United States from Mexico has increased by over 30 percent according to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Protection (CBP), as more apparently attempt to flee the draft created by President Vladimir Putin to expand his army as the war in Ukraine continues.

“There are over 150 countries that have been reported coming through the border and the Russian influence has gone up by 35 percent over two years,” Clint McDonald, executive director of the Southwestern Border Sheriff’s Coalition, told The Epoch Times. “That’s what has been documented and that’s not counting what the federal government calls ‘got aways’ where they come across sensors or come across cameras and nobody has ever come in contact with them.”

It is estimated that over 31,000 migrants have fled Russia to the United States since Putin invaded Ukraine in early 2022, according to the CBP. That includes over 12,000 crossings in just two months over October and November, most attempting to claim asylum status.

McDonald says that according to his sheriffs on the border, most of the Russian nationals and others are being escorted across the border by criminal cartels in Mexico.

“The cartels are getting money to help them come into the country, it’s a cash crop and so the cartels are sending them in here and they’re paid upfront,” he says.

The number of foreign nationals coming across the U.S.–Mexico border illegally is so high that the United States has been compared to the United Nations.

“It’s almost like a mini U.N.,” Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) told The Epoch Times. “The message we’re receiving from a lot of these immigrants is that the borders are open.”

Most of the Russian nationals and other asylum seekers gathered along the border were reportedly hoping that Title 42 would come to an end to expedite their ability to get into the United States.

But now that the Supreme Court has decided to keep Title 42 intact (for the time being) the number of foreign nationals at tent cities along the border is increasing by the thousands.

“This was Eagle Pass, Texas, last night. 1,100 migrants in a 5-hour span. A new record,” Cuellar wrote in a Twitter post on Dec. 27, showing pictures of the expanding group of immigrants attempting to cross the border.