Asylum for Mexicans- The Drug War

Amidst the increasing violence in Mexico, a growing number of Mexicans are seeking asylum in the United States.

In 2003, the USCIS reported 54 asylum cases from Mexican citizens. In 2008, that number reached 312. But asylum requests based on fear of violence aren't easy cases to make. Last year, the United States approved less than half of those cases.

While this is still a small number, according to international refugee law, sustained, widespread violence within a country is reasonable grounds for asylum. Is this happening in Mexico?

NPR on March 23: The violence has spread throughout the country

• "The drug war killed more than 6,000 people last year and has prompted some security analysts to warn that Mexico is in danger of becoming a failed state.
• Major gun battles, at times lasting for hours, have erupted from the Guatemalan border to the interior highlands to the Chihuahua desert.
• The Mexican cartels have come to dominate global cocaine trafficking. Mexico also has become the world's largest exporter of marijuana. Estimates of the revenue generated by the Mexican drug cartels range from $18 billion to $40 billion a year
• President Calderon has sent in the military to patrol the streets in several cities
  
• See the interactive map
  

NPR on March 24: The Cartels are recruiting young people

• The epicenter of violence in Mexico remains Ciudad Juarez, where nearly 2,000 people have been murdered in a mafia war in the past 14 months — many of them just boys. Some 80 percent of the victims are younger than 25.
• "Sicaritos are children who are assassins, 13 or 14 years old," says Soto. "[The cartels] give them a weapon to use.
• Mexican drug cartels recruit children under 18 for the same reasons that armed forces conscript boy soldiers in Sierra Leone and Somalia — their immaturity produces fearlessness. And for a young boy at the margin of society, cartel membership brings instant respect.

A great deal of the violence is our responsibility. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton even said so.

“Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade,” Mrs. Clinton said, using unusually blunt language. “Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of police officers, soldiers and civilians.”

Thus, in addition to international refugee law, there is a moral obligation here as well: "if you help screw up someone’s country, you should let them leave that country and join yours." We are granting refugee status to Iraqis and Afghanis (albeit minimally) so we should not be turning down Mexicans who seek asylum. I suspect the numbers will only grow.

And, the U.S. has granted asylum to Mexicans in the past.