Mexican Congress Asking US To Accomodate More Asylum Cases
EL PASO, Texas — A member of the Mexican Senate is pushing the United States to be more accommodating to asylum requests by Mexican citizens.
Senator Luisa Calderón Hinojosa, sister of former Mexican President Felipe Calderón, represents the violence-plagued state of Michoacan. She submitted a resolution to the Mexican Senate floor in early January.
In the resolution, Senator Calderón highlighted the case of Carlos Gutierrez, a small business owner whose legs were amputated. Gutierrez sold concessions at special events in the northern state of Chihuahua. He claims to be the victim of extortion and when he couldn't pay, claims criminals held him down and chopped off his legs.
Gutierrez now walks on prosthetics. In late October he embarked on a 700 mile bike ride from El Paso to Austin as a way calling attention to the plight of Mexican asylum seekers. He is part of a group called "Mexicans in Exile" who lobby for the same cause.
According to the Department of Justice, in 2012, only 1.4 percent of asylum petitions from Mexicans were accepted.
El Paso immigration attorney Carlos Spector is one of the few who has succeeded in helping clients gain asylum. He's represented journalists, police officers and human rights activists. Spector contends the Mexican government is incapable of protecting its own citizens.
"The cases we are getting are more violent and more directly involved with the state," he said.
Spector said he has numerous cases of "authorized crime" in which his clients alledge Mexican authorities are working with members of organized crime.
To be eligible for asylum, applicants must prove they have suffered persecution under one of the following categories: race, religion, nationality, member of a particular social group, or political opinion.
Most of Spector's clients who have been granted asylum, including journalists and human rights activists, qualified on the basis of their political opinion. His other cases, mostly involving victims of violence, don't fall easily into any of the categories. Some have been denied, while others remain in the court system.
In the United States, some members of Congress are skeptical of asylum petitioners. The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing in late December to question government officials over a sudden surge in asylum applications in 2013. Some members questioned whether there was a chance some asylum seekers were making false claims in order to game the system.
One committee member cited a leaked government memo detailing a case where a woman granted asylum was later arrested at a checkpoint with $1 million worth of cocaine.
Calderon said her home state of Michoacan has documented cases of 5,000 people petitioning for asylum in the United States.
Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke of El Paso has begun a discussion with Spector's office about hosting a binational congressional hearing on the subject of asylum in the coming months.
