A recent immigration court ruling out of San Antonio granted asylum to a Mexican citizen who said he was being persecuted by drug traffickers.
A blog post from San Antonio immigration attorney Juan Gonzalez outlines the case of the unnamed Mexican citizen. Immigration court records are sealed unless the immigrant grants permission to make the file public.
Gonzalez writes that the judge found the immigrant in question was a member of a “social group that suffered past persecution.” From his blog post:
The ruling, quoted in Gonzalez’s blog post, also suggests that the judge realizes the Mexican government, at least at lower levels, was complicit in the immigrant’s persecution:
A blog post from San Antonio immigration attorney Juan Gonzalez outlines the case of the unnamed Mexican citizen. Immigration court records are sealed unless the immigrant grants permission to make the file public.
Gonzalez writes that the judge found the immigrant in question was a member of a “social group that suffered past persecution.” From his blog post:
The Immigration Judge found that because the Mexican National participated in and work with the Mexican police to prevent the trafficking of drugs into the United States, but was not a member of the Mexican police or could be associated with the law enforcement authorities, he met the requirements for persecution on account of a particular social group.The number of asylum seekers from Mexico jumped from 1,393 in 2009 to 2,320 in 2010, according to U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services. That number does not include those who requested asylum after deportation proceedings against them began. But it’s not clear if the increase is because of violence in Mexico. Even though about 7,500 people died 2009 from Mexico’s drug war, up from about 5,600 in 2008, asylum requests from Mexican citizens actually fell in 2009, to 1,393 from 2,144 the year before. Of course, last year saw an incredible increase in the violence, with more than 15,000 killed.
The ruling, quoted in Gonzalez’s blog post, also suggests that the judge realizes the Mexican government, at least at lower levels, was complicit in the immigrant’s persecution:
The Immigration Judge stated that even internal relocation would be a problem because ” the country conditions documentation supports the proposition that many Mexican officials in law enforcement are corrupt and assisting the drug cartels.” Finally, the Immigration Judge reiterated that “drug related violence in Mexico is a countrywide phenomenon. Even the Department of State has urged American Citizens to use extreme caution when traveling to Mexico.”
If I am not mistaken, this decision is the first of its kind classifying a Mexican citizen into a persecuted group by cartels.
ReplyDeleteImmigration courts deal with other persecuted groups from Mexico like journalists, or gays and lesbians. With that said, how many people or families of the 40,000 killed since the 2006 war with the cartels would also qualify?