Ukrainians at the U.S.-Mexico Border: Seeking Admission at U.S. Ports of Entry by Nationality

Published May 17, 2022

Last month in April a total of 20,994 Ukrainians seeking safety from the war ravaging their homeland turned up at U.S. ports of entry and were stopped at the border as “inadmissibles.” [1] Arrivals from Ukraine averaged 700 per day during April. This includes individuals allowed into the country on humanitarian parole. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reports these 700 individuals per day were out of “nearly a half of a million people who arrive [daily] at 328 U.S. ports of entry by air, land and sea.”

Sixty percent of the Ukrainian adults were females, forty percent were males [2]. Children were evenly divided between males and females. While these refugees seeking entry into the United States had a higher proportion of females, the proportion of males was surprising high – much higher than has been reported among Ukrainian refugees heading to European countries since Ukraine banned all male citizens ages 18 to 60 from leaving the country shortly after the Russian invasion began.

About one-third (32%) of these Ukrainians were children ages 0-17. Five (5) percent were over 60, and, the remaining 63 percent were between the ages of 18 and 60. The majority (60%) arrived in family groups with children.[3] Just over 100 children (105) arrived as unaccompanied minors. The remainder arrived as single adults or as couples without children.

This detailed portrait is based on person-by-person government records covering April 2022 detailing how port authorities ultimately decided whether to admit or expel individuals, and compares Ukrainians versus non-Ukrainians who were stopped as “inadmissible” when arriving via land, sea or air. These detailed records were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University, and analyzed by TRAC.

Where Did Ukrainians Arrive?

Most Ukrainian refugees sought entry into the United States via Mexico. And along the Mexican border, most sought entry at San Diego. Indeed, some 19,016 out of 20,994 Ukrainians, or over 90 percent, sought entry through ports of entry under the San Diego CBP port authority. See Figure 1.

A much smaller number—only 1,337—sought entry in ports administered by Texas CBP port authorities in Laredo, Houston, and El Paso. Buffalo, New York and Seattle, Washington were the port authorities along the northern border that had the largest number of Ukrainian arrivals, but arrivals were relatively few. In April, just 176 Ukrainians sought entry into the U.S. through Buffalo entry ports, and 102 through ports under the Seattle CBP field office. See Table 1.

Ukrainians Dominate Those Without Necessary Entry Papers to the U.S.

This surge of Ukrainians last month made up nearly four out of every ten individuals (39%) CBP port authorities flagged as inadmissible and stopped at the border. See Figure 2.

After Ukraine, the other nationalities in the top five were Mexico (9%), Philippines (8%), Canada (8%) and India (6%). Russia was in sixth place with five percent. No other country reached as high as five percent. Guatemala and El Salvador each made up only one percent of inadmissibles. China and Honduras, and Haiti were intermediate with three, three, and two percent, respectively. See Table 2.

Fleeing their war-torn country, many Ukrainians not surprisingly did not have the necessary official documents which might authorize their entry into the U.S. The following section details what happened to those lacking these necessary papers and compares their fate with those who arrived at U.S. ports of entry from other countries.

Decisions Made by Port Authorities

Asylums claims were reported by CBP for only one percent of Ukrainians. In contrast, in April roughly one in five (21%) individuals stopped at ports of entry from countries other than Ukraine were seeking asylum. These individuals reported a credible fear of persecution if returned to their home countries according to CBP case-by-case records.

Decisions in April made by CBP port authorities differed markedly for Ukrainians as compared with other nationalities. See Table 3. Fully 95 percent of Ukrainians while not formally admitted were “paroled” and allowed to enter and temporarily remain in the U.S. Parole is often granted for humanitarian reasons, as it was here.[4] This discretionary authority is provided under immigration law to allow individuals to enter the U.S. for humanitarian and other purpose when individuals lack visas or other required entry documents.

Out of the 20,994 arrivals, only a very small number (92) of Ukrainians were turned away.[5] An additional 7 who would otherwise have been subject to expedited removal were found to have a credible fear of persecution and were turned over to ICE for detention until their status could be resolved. Only 285 were issued Notices to Appear in Immigration Court. In these cases, most (246) were seeking asylum and had been found to have a credible fear of persecution. Most of those issued an NTA (241) were handed over to ICE for custody.

The pattern of decision was markedly different for others not from Ukraine. Two-thirds of non-Ukrainians were turned away and not allowed entry. Of these, roughly a quarter (26%) were allowed to withdraw their request to enter the country without legal penalty, and an additional three percent were refused entry under the Visa Waiver Program. In addition, seven percent were issued expedited orders of removal. A further thirty-one percent were crew members who were not allowed to set foot in the U.S. and were either refused landing rights or detained on board.

The remaining one third were allowed into the U.S. However, many of these were turned over to ICE for custody rather than released by CBP. Just 11 percent – compared to 95 percent of Ukrainians – were “paroled” and allowed to enter and temporarily remain in the U.S. Even for these individuals, custody of 178 was reported to have been turned over to ICE and they were not immediately released.

Of the remaining 22 percent who were issued an NTA, almost all (94%) were seeking asylum and had a credible fear of persecution. Almost four out of ten (38%) issued an NTA were not released but were turned over to ICE for custody.