A camp nestled in a popular sector of Mexico City it is the last stop for more than 200 Ukrainians, including entire families, awaiting clearance to travel to the United States under a new humanitarian program.
“They will be able to come to the United States legally and they will have many opportunities there,” Valentyn Kramar, a 19-year-old American born in the United States, told AFP on Thursday. Ukraine accompanying five members of his family who “escaped from the bombs”.
The young man was referring to the United for Ukraine program, launched last Monday by Washington and that it will facilitate the entry of Ukrainians after an electronic procedure and on the condition that they enter by air.
According to Anastasia Polo, a Ukrainian resident in California who traveled to Mexico to participate in the coordination of this program, some 20,000 Ukrainians have arrived since the war broke out at the Tijuana border (northwest) to cross by land to USA.
“But these Ukrainians had already bought their (plane) tickets and since it was not possible for them to be reimbursed, that is why they are here,” Polo said.
The camp, made up of a dozen huge white tents, is located on the grounds of a sports car in the sector of Iztapalapaconsidered among the most criminal in the capital.
Polo explained that the facilities as well as food have been provided by authorities from the Ministry of the Interior (Interior).
The Ukrainians spent their first night in the place in the midst of sudden weather changes, as on Wednesday afternoon there was heavy rain that cooled the night and this Thursday the sun beat down harshly.
“We will be here as long as the program requires, it could be between seven and ten days, or maybe more,” adds Kramar, who is accompanied by Mykhailo, his 27-year-old Ukrainian cousin who manages to stammer a few words in his native language.
This group, in which there are two minors and a woman over seventy years old, paid for their transfer from Ukraine, a trip that took them four days and that they financed with the help of relatives established in Michiganyour final destination.
“I am worried but also very excited,” says Mykhailo Prokopiv with the help of his cousin Valentyn’s translation.
Ukrainians seeking to reach USA from Mexico they have benefited from simplified procedures, which has caused complaints from other migrants, most of them Central Americans, who can spend months waiting at the northern border.
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