More Mexicans get asylum approvals - Drug violence spurs requests by ex-cops, lawyers

Orlando Sentinel, The (FL) - Friday, April 9, 2010
Author: Alfonso Chardy, McClatchy/tribune news

MIAMI -- Jose Jimenez, a Mexican mechanic, is doing odd jobs in an American town after escaping a violent northern Mexican city where drug traffickers threatened to kill him when he refused to build secret compartments in tractor-trailers to hide U.S.-bound drug shipments.

He's hoping the U.S. immigration system can keep him alive -- and he's not alone.

He is one of a growing number of Mexicans receiving asylum in the United States, where until recently most Mexican immigrants had sought work permits. But escalating drug war violence south of the border over the last four years has prompted immigration judges and federal asylum officers to approve more Mexican asylum petitions.

Posted By Ayanna Spikes

More Mexicans get asylum approvals - Drug violence spurs requests by ex-cops, lawyers
Chardy, Alfonso. "More Mexicans get asylum approvals - Drug violence spurs requests by ex-cops, lawyers." Orlando Sentinel, The (FL) 9 Apr. 2010, FINAL, A SECTION: A11. NewsBank. Web. 16 Apr. 2010.