Drug War Leads to Rise in Mexican Citizens Seeking Asylum

Due to the violent drug war currently underway in Mexico, thousands of Mexican citizens have begun seeking asylum in the U.S.

The number of asylum petitions from Mexican citizens increased from 1,331 in 2005 to 2,231 in 2008.  However, many petitions are being denied because the U.S. does not recognize fear of violence as grounds for automatic asylum.

Lawyers representing asylum-seekers disagree with the U.S. government's stand that the country doesn't grant asylum on grounds of fear of violence alone, and point to the approximately 6,000 people who've been killed over the past year in the Mexican drug war. They worry that failure to grant more requests for asylum will result in more deaths.

Human rights activists are also challenging the U.S. position that fear or threats of violence by non-governmental entities (such as drug cartels) do not entitle a person to asylum.

"Asylum jurisprudence is replete with examples of cases in which people fleeing their home countries based on persecution by a nongovernment actor have received protection," said Regina Germain, the author of a textbook on asylum and legal director of the Rocky Mountain Survivors Center in Colorado.

Mexican consular officials in the U.S. acknowledge that Mexicans are fleeing for safety, but that Mexican citizens receiving threats should "ask for the protection from the Mexican government. That should be their first option," said legal affairs consul Jorge Gonzalez-Mayagoitia.

The problem is that Mexican citizens do not trust the government, saying the government has been infiltrated by the drug cartels, and there is no way to tell who in the government is loyal to the drug cartels and who can be trusted by the citizens who need them.

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