Russian asylum seeker in Palomas, Mexico shelter

For more than two months, Red de Albergues para Migrante (the Migrant Shelter Network or RAM) –an organization that operates 24 shelters in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, primarily in Juarez but as far as 100 miles west in the desert, in the village of Palomas, across the U.S. Mexico border with Columbus, New Mexico– has had an unusual guest: Russian Elena Nazarova.

Nazarova, 44, is a nurse who fled the war between Ukraine and Russia after being fired for protesting against the conflict with signs stating, "No to War."

"Not all Russians support the war," Nazarova declared to El Diario de Juarez (The Juarez Diary). "There are many people who are against the war in Russia, who think it is criminal, that is why I protested against the war, and they tried to imprison me, because we cannot call what is war a war."

Nazarova –who lived 30 kilometers (19 mi) from the China-Russia Border in Khabarovsk Krai– is currently waiting in a RAM shelter to be processed and vetted to enter the U.S. with the support of a sponsor. According to Pastor Rosalío Sosa –director of RAM– the Russian arrived to the Palomas shelter after her sponsor recommended to seek Sosa’s assistance.

“She came to the shelter because her sponsor recommended for her to visit the Tierra de Oro shelter in Palomas and look for someone named Rosalío,” Sosa said. "She is currently waiting in Mexico because she wants to do things right for her sponsor."

Nazarova fled after being threatened with 15 years of jailtime for protesting the war when her friends and relatives were being killed, Sosa affirmed. While Nazarova's sponsor continues to seek ways for her to enter the United States, the Russian migrant is helping RAM so that more migrants may be welcomed in the future.

“She (Nazarova) is helping us paint and clean the new Tierra de Oro shelter in Juárez,” Sosa affirmed. “She is very willing to serve, as she is a nurse.”

Today RAM inaugurates the opening of the Tierra de Oro shelter in Juárez with the arrival of a Honduran family.

“Today a family arrives from Honduras, but the shelter will fit 70 people,” he confessed. “Also another family from Michoacán (Mexico) arrives today and four Salvadoran families who were living on the streets in Monterrey (Mexico) will arrive on Saturday.”

Fellowship Southwest supports Sosa’s migrant shelter network in Chihuahua. You can give to the Knox Fund for Immigrant Relief to support his work, and that of other ministries in our network all along the U.S.-Mexico border, by clicking here.