By: Hal C. Clarke

A surge of Russian nationals seeking asylum in New York City has contributed to the ongoing migrant crisis, according to data obtained by The NY Post.

The number of asylum cases involving Russians in New York State Immigration Court has skyrocketed by an alarming 158% over the past year, marking a significant and unexpected trend in migration patterns.

For the fiscal year spanning from October 31, 2021, to September 30, 2022, there were 3,098 cases involving Russian nationals in New York immigration court. However, as of Sunday, the number of asylum cases involving Russians has risen dramatically to 8,002 for the current fiscal year running from October 1, 2022, to September 30. These statistics are a testament to the unprecedented nature of this mass exodus, with the number of cases surging nearly tenfold since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

The data, which was sourced from the US Department of Justice immigration court statistics by Mayor Eric Adams’ Office of Immigrant Affairs, was made available through Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. City Hall is closely monitoring immigration court proceedings to track the flow of migrants into the city.

City officials, including Mayor Adams, immigration experts, and lawmakers representing the post-Soviet Union diaspora, all point to the Russia-Ukraine war as the primary driver behind this mass migration. This humanitarian crisis has led to waves of Russians making their way to the Mexico-US border in search of asylum, ultimately ending up in New York City, NY Post explained.

The city boasts the largest Russian-speaking immigrant population, including a significant number of Jewish refugees.

Russian nationals now constitute the sixth largest group of asylum seekers in the city, accounting for approximately 3% of the total. They follow asylum seekers from Central and South American countries such as Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, and Mauritania in Africa, according to the mayor’s office. Notably, Ukrainians seeking asylum are tracked separately under the federal government’s special Uniting for Ukraine parole program, and their numbers are not included in the city’s country of origin data.

Mark Krikorian, the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a group advocating for stricter border policies, acknowledged that Russians have joined the ranks of asylum seekers arriving at the Mexican-US border. However, he emphasized that opposition to the war or avoidance of the military draft in Russia may not necessarily qualify as grounds for asylum, and many individuals may be in the US illegally. Krikorian suggested that the surge in migration is more a matter of taking advantage of the situation rather than meeting traditional asylum criteria.

Ukrainian-born Councilwoman Inna Vernikov, representing Russian-speaking enclaves in southern Brooklyn, acknowledged the escalating numbers of Russian and Ukrainian nationals escaping to the US, driven by the ongoing conflict in the region.

Councilman Ari Kagan, a Belarus native who emigrated to the United States as a Jewish refugee and now represents Russian-speaking communities in Brooklyn, noted that those arriving from the Russian Federation are often opposed to Putin and the war he launched on Ukraine.  However, Kagan emphasized the importance of adhering to legal immigration processes, given the existing strain on the city due to high levels of migration.