In his newest book, “Schlepping and Schmoozing along the Interstate 5,” Donald Harrison begins his journey along I-5 looking for Jewish histories in Tijuana, Mexico, at the U.S.– Mexico border.
If he were to go back to the border today, Harrison would come across an additional story, both tragic and uplifting.
As the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine enters its eighth week and intensifies, the resulting refugee crisis has become the fastest-moving exodus of European civilians since World War II.
According to the United Nations, the invasion has thus far created more than 11 million displaced persons, with more than 4.5 million leaving Ukraine altogether.
About 90 percent of these unfortunate people are women and children.
As Russian troops are massing for what is expected to be a major assault, thousands more are fleeing westward each day.
While the vast majority of refugees flee to Poland and other neighboring countries, a growing number are making it across the Atlantic seeking refuge in the United States. The flow of refugees to our shores has markedly increased since the Biden administration announced it will welcome up to 100,000 Ukrainians into the country.
At the San Ysidro port of entry about 3,000 Ukrainian refugees were allowed to cross the border into the United States in the last week, while another 2,000 are waiting to be granted asylum. A number that keeps growing.
Many of these refugees have flown into Cancún or Mexico City from Europe and then have taken a second flight to Tijuana
Such an influx of refugees requires the support of many charity, faith and non-profit groups and organizations. And indeed, several Jewish religious groups, organizations and individuals are at the border writing yet another Jewish story.
One of them is the Jewish Family Service of San Diego that is – along with its San Diego Rapid Response Network (SDRRN) Migrant Shelter Services — helping hundreds of asylum-seeking Ukrainian families who have made their way to San Diego.
Another (nationwide) organization helping the Ukrainian refugees is the Jewish refugee agency HIAS. Its president and CEO, Mark Hetfield reminds us that “Jewish people are called by their faith to care for and help people in need” and notes that “‘welcoming the stranger’ is mentioned 36 times in the Torah, more often than any other commandment.”
It would be neither fair nor accurate not to mention other faith-groups and organizations that are also “welcoming the stranger” at the U.S. – Mexico border.
Among them, Calvary San Diego, a Christian church in nearby Chula Vista, Calif.; the Baptist Forward Church in Irvine, as well as a Russian church in the San Diego area.
One of Calvary’s pastors who has been almost 24-7 at the border “handing out food and water to Ukrainians lined up to enter the United States” is himself the grandson of a Hungarian Jew who survived the Holocaust and lost other family members to the Nazi genocide. He “believes he is being called to serve those in dire need.”
Over 200,000 Jews live in Ukraine.
According to a recent estimate by the Jewish Agency for Israel, so far, 7,000 Ukrainian Jews have been brought to Israel as olim or as eligible to make Aliyah. That number is expected to rise dramatically.
It is likely that among those seeking asylum at the U.S.–Mexico border, there are or will be some of the Jewish faith.
They will have their stories to tell.
