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Refugees of Mexico's Drug War Struggle to Find Safe Haven in the U.S.
Drug violence is tearing Mexican cities apart. But, those looking for asylum in the U.S. are often turned away at the gates.
October 28, 2011 /Law and Legal PR News/ -- Waves of heat radiated off the tiled roofs of a quiet Juarez neighborhood. A few residents took refuge from the unrelenting August sun in the sparse pockets of shade scattered along the street. Somewhere far in the distance, a dog was barking.
A pair of dark SUVs appeared around a corner, and pulled up in front of a modest working class home. Moments later, four bodies lay sprawled amidst a hail of spent 7.62 mm shell casings. Before the masked cartel gunmen melted back into the cityscape, they made an ominous promise to the woman they had just widowed: they'd be back for her four sons.
Like thousands of others desperate to escape the burgeoning savagery of the Mexican drug cartels, the woman gathered her children, ages nine to 22, and fled to the United States. However, her image of America as a sanctuary for the oppressed turned out to be as fleeting as a desert mirage: her petition for asylum was denied by a federal judge. Two of the sons were deported back to Juarez, where they are hiding from cartel hitmen. The other boys are still in the U.S. with their mother, awaiting the outcome of a final appeal in immigration court.
Pleas for Asylum Ignored As Thousands Stream Across Border Into Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and California
The brutal spectacle playing out over the drug trade in our neighbor to the south is entering a frightening state of escalation. In September, armed thugs in Boca Del Rio dumped the bloodied corpses of 35 murder victims on a busy street during rush hour. A few days later, a female journalist's decapitated body was displayed in Nuevo Laredo as a warning to others who would dare blog about the cartels. Five severed heads were left outside an Acapulco elementary school come October.
The Mexican army has been deployed in response to drug violence, bolstered by almost one and a half billion dollars from the U.S. government's Merida Initiative. But some claim the military is worse than the cartels.
"I fear the cartels, but I fear the Mexican military more," Cipriana Jurado told GlobalPost. Jurado is a human rights activist from Juarez who was granted asylum in the U.S. on the grounds that she was in danger from Mexican security forces.
A number of Jurado's countrymen have not been so lucky. To qualify as a refugee under U.S. immigration law, an asylum applicant must show that he or she cannot return to his or her home country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion. In the eyes of immigration officials, many Mexican applicants imperiled by the drug war simply do not meet this definition: only 1.5 percent of the 3,200 Mexicans who filed asylum applications in 2010 were successful.
Immigration Lawyers Can Help Asylum Seekers
Some 115,000 people displaced by drug violence in Mexico are estimated to be seeking refuge in the United States. While asylum in the U.S. may seem legally unattainable to many of those affected by Mexico's drug war, a skilled immigration attorney can give refugees the best chance at a fresh start in America. If deportation to your violence-ravaged homeland looms as a constant threat in your life, get in touch with an immigration lawyer today to explore your options.
Article provided by Kanu & Associates, P.C.
Visit us at www.kanulaw.com/
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