(Trends Wide) — Nailia Manzurina’s eyes filled with tears as she recalled the time when she and her two young children had to be separated from her husband in their native Russia.
“Praise God, it was only temporary,” she said, wiping away tears.
It was late September 2022 and emotions were running high in Russia because President Vladimir Putin had just imposed the country’s first military draft since World War II. Videos on social media showed mothers and wives crying as their loved ones were dragged into the war in Ukraine. Young people flocked to neighboring countries to avoid being drawn into war.
Nailia’s husband, Mikhail Manzurin, 25, qualified for the draft but disagreed with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. And he felt, very strongly, that he should not be forced to serve in the army against his will.
“I don’t want to kill (the) innocent people of Ukraine. They are protecting their territories. They are protecting their homes. I don’t want to be part of this invasion,” said Mikhail Manzurin.
Mikhail and Nailia Manzurin pose with their two sons, Mark and Philip, while the family was still in Russia. (Courtesy of Mikhail Manzurin)
Fearing that Mikhail would be recruited, imprisoned or worse, the family decided to flee, embarking on a multi-country odyssey with their newborn, Philip, and little boy Mark, taking them through Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Dubai, Mexico and eventually to America, all with the help of strangers.
They would become part of a vast wave of Russians seeking refuge from the war in the United States. In the past six months, data released by US border authorities shows that the number of Russian citizens they have encountered has nearly tripled: from 1,645 Russians in August 2022 (the month before Russia’s recruitment began). to 4,509 in January 2023.
In all, nearly 22,000 Russians, including the Manzurins, have tried to enter the United States through the country’s southern border since October 2022, the first full month after the draft was announced, according to the latest Customs data. and US Border Protection.
“I realized that my country was doing something wrong”
Before all this, the Manzurins say, they loved their life in Russia. The couple enjoyed parenthood, and Mikhail says he earned a lot of money teaching English and Chinese at a tutoring center.
Russia then invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
“It was shocking,” Mikhail said. “I realized that my country was doing something wrong.”
Although he knew it was not safe to speak out, Mikhail says he expressed his disdain for the war on social media and from the pulpit of his non-denominational Christian church.
Mikhail says his boss forced him to quit his job because the parents complained about his public stance against the war. At that point, Mikhail says he made the transition to online language teaching and life as they knew it continued despite the war.
But his world was turned upside down in September 2022, when Putin imposed military conscription. Soon after, Mikhail says that he kissed his wife goodbye and took a taxi to the border, where he caught a bus to Kazakhstan. The bus was packed with other young people who were also fleeing Russia, according to Mikhail.
“I was shaking,” Mikhail said.
As the bus crossed the border into Kazakhstan without incident, Mikhail says all the men on board began cheering their successful escape saying, “We did it!”
Nailia, 27, and her children joined Mikhail a week later.
The Russians are crossing the US southern border.
Days after meeting in Kazakhstan, the Manzurins traveled by train to Uzbekistan. There they slept on the floor for more than a month in an apartment they shared with friends. And Mikhail continued to teach languages online to support his family. But Mikhail says that he did not feel safe in Uzbekistan because the territory is a post-Soviet country.
“They can be friendly with Russia,” Mikhail said.
It was then that Mikhail says he found out from some of his Russian friends that they had entered the United States through the country’s southern border.
“They crossed the border from Mexico into the United States,” Mikhail said. “It happened to a family, then another family, and we started praying.”
Mikhail put those prayers to work online, where he searched for and found a US-based Christian nonprofit organization called the Practice Mercy Foundation.
Alma Ruth, the founder and director of the nonprofit organization, says the Manzurins asked her for guidance and prayer. Ruth says she connected them with friends in Mexico City and Reynosa, a city in northern Mexico that borders Hidalgo County, Texas.
Alma Ruth and Mark Manzurin pose for a selfie in the Rio Grande Valley. (Credit: Courtesy of Alma Ruth)
“Immigration is a life and death conversation and as people of faith we choose life,” Ruth said. “We responded to their call for help because it was the first time that a young family traveling with babies contacted us for help from their region of origin.”
But Ruth says it wasn’t the first time she’d seen Russians on the southern US border. She says it’s a phenomenon she started seeing about two years ago, but the numbers were small back then.
According to data from the US Customs and Border Protection, there has been a 4,560% increase in the number of Russians trying to enter the US, when comparing fiscal years 2020 with 2022 (the last year complete available).
In fiscal year 2020, 467 Russians were found at the southern US border, compared with 21,763 in fiscal year 2022.
Hundreds of Russians wait in a town in northern Mexico to legally enter the US.
The Manzurins say they flew to Mexico through Dubai, because they heard from Russian friends that it increased their chances of getting into Mexico without a problem. In fact, the Manzurins arrived in Reynosa at the end of November and realized that some 700 Russians were waiting to enter the United States legally.
Mikhail says that many of the men had protested the war and some had been arrested for demonstrating. And they all had one thing in common: they were against the Russian war with Ukraine.
Pastor Héctor Silva, who runs one of Reynosa’s largest migrant shelters, says most of the Russians he encountered were fleeing Russian military draft and that most of them entered the United States or left. to nearby Matamoros, Mexico.
After 40 days of waiting in Reynosa, Mikhail says that US immigration authorities allowed him and his family to enter the United States through something called humanitarian parole, which allows people who would otherwise would not be eligible to enter the US enter the country for a temporary period of time for urgent humanitarian reasons.
In January, the Biden administration expanded a humanitarian parole program to include Cubans, Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, and Haitians to provide them a legal path to enter the U.S. As of January 27, more than 7,500 migrants with those nationalities had been approval to legally enter the US under the program. The Russians were not part of that program.
The Manzurins say they were processed by US immigration authorities at the Hidalgo, Texas port of entry and received notice to appear before a US immigration judge in July 2024.
The number of notices to appear issued to Russians by US immigration authorities has nearly quadrupled from August 2022 (the month before Putin issued conscription) to December 2022 (the latest month available), according to analysis of government data by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. (TRAC) from Syracuse University. In December 2022, 6,991 notices were issued for Russians to appear in immigration court, compared with 1,799 in August 2022, according to TRAC.
Fear of deportation looms
Mikhail Manzurin says he was worried about moving his family to the United States because Russian propaganda and people in Russia say that Americans are individualists who only care about themselves and don’t like Russians.
“’No one is going to worry about you. So no one is going to help you,’” Manzurin recalls being told before leaving Russia.
To Mikhail’s surprise, since his arrival in the United States, pastors and community members have provided his family with food, shelter, clothing, and financial support.
Pastor Aaron Reyes of Practice Mercy and his family hosted the Manzurins in their home in Austin, Texas, for about a week beginning in late January. Reyes says Americans have a lot to learn from Manzurin’s story.
Aaron Reyes and his family pose with the Manzurins in Austin, Texas for Nailia’s birthday. (Credit: Rosa Flores)
“Material possessions are not what give us joy,” Reyes said. “They (the Mazurín) have lived on their way with very little and have lived day by day and week by week content, happy.”
Mikhail says his family will be applying for political asylum and his dream is that his children will one day become US citizens and grow up free and safe.
And while the Manzurins say they have settled in a Russian-speaking Christian community in Washington state and feel safe from the tentacles of Russian military recruitment, their future in the United States remains uncertain. It will be up to the US immigration courts to ultimately grant or deny them asylum.
“(That) is my biggest fear here in the United States, that they will deport us,” Mikhail said. “(For) them (US immigration authorities) to say: ‘Your case is not good enough to get political asylum.'”
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(Trends Wide) — Nailia Manzurina’s eyes filled with tears as she recalled the time when she and her two young children had to be separated from her husband in their native Russia.
“Praise God, it was only temporary,” she said, wiping away tears.
It was late September 2022 and emotions were running high in Russia because President Vladimir Putin had just imposed the country’s first military draft since World War II. Videos on social media showed mothers and wives crying as their loved ones were dragged into the war in Ukraine. Young people flocked to neighboring countries to avoid being drawn into war.
Nailia’s husband, Mikhail Manzurin, 25, qualified for the draft but disagreed with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. And he felt, very strongly, that he should not be forced to serve in the army against his will.
“I don’t want to kill (the) innocent people of Ukraine. They are protecting their territories. They are protecting their homes. I don’t want to be part of this invasion,” said Mikhail Manzurin.
Mikhail and Nailia Manzurin pose with their two sons, Mark and Philip, while the family was still in Russia. (Courtesy of Mikhail Manzurin)
Fearing that Mikhail would be recruited, imprisoned or worse, the family decided to flee, embarking on a multi-country odyssey with their newborn, Philip, and little boy Mark, taking them through Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Dubai, Mexico and eventually to America, all with the help of strangers.
They would become part of a vast wave of Russians seeking refuge from the war in the United States. In the past six months, data released by US border authorities shows that the number of Russian citizens they have encountered has nearly tripled: from 1,645 Russians in August 2022 (the month before Russia’s recruitment began). to 4,509 in January 2023.
In all, nearly 22,000 Russians, including the Manzurins, have tried to enter the United States through the country’s southern border since October 2022, the first full month after the draft was announced, according to the latest Customs data. and US Border Protection.
“I realized that my country was doing something wrong”
Before all this, the Manzurins say, they loved their life in Russia. The couple enjoyed parenthood, and Mikhail says he earned a lot of money teaching English and Chinese at a tutoring center.
Russia then invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
“It was shocking,” Mikhail said. “I realized that my country was doing something wrong.”
Although he knew it was not safe to speak out, Mikhail says he expressed his disdain for the war on social media and from the pulpit of his non-denominational Christian church.
Mikhail says his boss forced him to quit his job because the parents complained about his public stance against the war. At that point, Mikhail says he made the transition to online language teaching and life as they knew it continued despite the war.
But his world was turned upside down in September 2022, when Putin imposed military conscription. Soon after, Mikhail says that he kissed his wife goodbye and took a taxi to the border, where he caught a bus to Kazakhstan. The bus was packed with other young people who were also fleeing Russia, according to Mikhail.
“I was shaking,” Mikhail said.
As the bus crossed the border into Kazakhstan without incident, Mikhail says all the men on board began cheering their successful escape saying, “We did it!”
Nailia, 27, and her children joined Mikhail a week later.
The Russians are crossing the US southern border.
Days after meeting in Kazakhstan, the Manzurins traveled by train to Uzbekistan. There they slept on the floor for more than a month in an apartment they shared with friends. And Mikhail continued to teach languages online to support his family. But Mikhail says that he did not feel safe in Uzbekistan because the territory is a post-Soviet country.
“They can be friendly with Russia,” Mikhail said.
It was then that Mikhail says he found out from some of his Russian friends that they had entered the United States through the country’s southern border.
“They crossed the border from Mexico into the United States,” Mikhail said. “It happened to a family, then another family, and we started praying.”
Mikhail put those prayers to work online, where he searched for and found a US-based Christian nonprofit organization called the Practice Mercy Foundation.
Alma Ruth, the founder and director of the nonprofit organization, says the Manzurins asked her for guidance and prayer. Ruth says she connected them with friends in Mexico City and Reynosa, a city in northern Mexico that borders Hidalgo County, Texas.
Alma Ruth and Mark Manzurin pose for a selfie in the Rio Grande Valley. (Credit: Courtesy of Alma Ruth)
“Immigration is a life and death conversation and as people of faith we choose life,” Ruth said. “We responded to their call for help because it was the first time that a young family traveling with babies contacted us for help from their region of origin.”
But Ruth says it wasn’t the first time she’d seen Russians on the southern US border. She says it’s a phenomenon she started seeing about two years ago, but the numbers were small back then.
According to data from the US Customs and Border Protection, there has been a 4,560% increase in the number of Russians trying to enter the US, when comparing fiscal years 2020 with 2022 (the last year complete available).
In fiscal year 2020, 467 Russians were found at the southern US border, compared with 21,763 in fiscal year 2022.
Hundreds of Russians wait in a town in northern Mexico to legally enter the US.
The Manzurins say they flew to Mexico through Dubai, because they heard from Russian friends that it increased their chances of getting into Mexico without a problem. In fact, the Manzurins arrived in Reynosa at the end of November and realized that some 700 Russians were waiting to enter the United States legally.
Mikhail says that many of the men had protested the war and some had been arrested for demonstrating. And they all had one thing in common: they were against the Russian war with Ukraine.
Pastor Héctor Silva, who runs one of Reynosa’s largest migrant shelters, says most of the Russians he encountered were fleeing Russian military draft and that most of them entered the United States or left. to nearby Matamoros, Mexico.
After 40 days of waiting in Reynosa, Mikhail says that US immigration authorities allowed him and his family to enter the United States through something called humanitarian parole, which allows people who would otherwise would not be eligible to enter the US enter the country for a temporary period of time for urgent humanitarian reasons.
In January, the Biden administration expanded a humanitarian parole program to include Cubans, Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, and Haitians to provide them a legal path to enter the U.S. As of January 27, more than 7,500 migrants with those nationalities had been approval to legally enter the US under the program. The Russians were not part of that program.
The Manzurins say they were processed by US immigration authorities at the Hidalgo, Texas port of entry and received notice to appear before a US immigration judge in July 2024.
The number of notices to appear issued to Russians by US immigration authorities has nearly quadrupled from August 2022 (the month before Putin issued conscription) to December 2022 (the latest month available), according to analysis of government data by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. (TRAC) from Syracuse University. In December 2022, 6,991 notices were issued for Russians to appear in immigration court, compared with 1,799 in August 2022, according to TRAC.
Fear of deportation looms
Mikhail Manzurin says he was worried about moving his family to the United States because Russian propaganda and people in Russia say that Americans are individualists who only care about themselves and don’t like Russians.
“’No one is going to worry about you. So no one is going to help you,’” Manzurin recalls being told before leaving Russia.
To Mikhail’s surprise, since his arrival in the United States, pastors and community members have provided his family with food, shelter, clothing, and financial support.
Pastor Aaron Reyes of Practice Mercy and his family hosted the Manzurins in their home in Austin, Texas, for about a week beginning in late January. Reyes says Americans have a lot to learn from Manzurin’s story.
Aaron Reyes and his family pose with the Manzurins in Austin, Texas for Nailia’s birthday. (Credit: Rosa Flores)
“Material possessions are not what give us joy,” Reyes said. “They (the Mazurín) have lived on their way with very little and have lived day by day and week by week content, happy.”
Mikhail says his family will be applying for political asylum and his dream is that his children will one day become US citizens and grow up free and safe.
And while the Manzurins say they have settled in a Russian-speaking Christian community in Washington state and feel safe from the tentacles of Russian military recruitment, their future in the United States remains uncertain. It will be up to the US immigration courts to ultimately grant or deny them asylum.
“(That) is my biggest fear here in the United States, that they will deport us,” Mikhail said. “(For) them (US immigration authorities) to say: ‘Your case is not good enough to get political asylum.'”
