Mexican officers seek asylum in face of drug violence

For a man who staked his career on the law, Javier Emilio Pérez Ortega quickly lost faith in his country's ability to enforce it.

During the four months he served as the police chief in the Mexican city of Puerto Palomas, Chih., he endured death threats from drug smugglers and helplessly watched as his entire police force resigned en masse.

So he turned to the only place he felt he could find refuge - the United States. In March, Pérez arrived at the international border crossing south of Columbus, N.M. seeking political asylum.

He is one of three Mexican municipal police chiefs to do so the past several months, according to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman. She declined to discuss their cases or say where the other two had entered the United States, but The Associated Press was able to confirm Pérez's case with a high-level official.

As Mexico steps up efforts to fight its war on drugs, the circumstances behind the chiefs' requests for asylum pose thorny questions over which foreign nationals should be granted refuge, say immigration attorneys and scholars.

"As the drug violence has increased more (private citizens) have sought asylum," said Barbara Hines, an immigration law professor at the University of Texas-Austin. "But these are people who actually work for the government saying it can't protect them."

Unique Cases

Immigration courts handle hundreds of asylum requests each year from non-citizens opposed to ruling powers in their home countries and from government officials that have been deposed from power.

But the Mexican chiefs are rare cases - perhaps the first where government functionaries have fled their native land while still enjoying the full support of their local bureaucracy, said Robert Crane, a Weslaco-based immigration attorney.

"It is difficult to conceive of," he said. "It's not enough to show that you're in danger."

U.S. immigration law does make exceptions for persecution by non-state actors if asylum seekers can provide evidence that their government can't or won't intervene.

But in Mexico, President Felipe Calderón has spent much of his first 18-months in office battling drug cartels that have controlled the country for years.

The narcotics traffickers have fought back, with a particular focus on law enforcement officials.

Since January, 25 officers have been killed in suspected drug-related violence nationwide, including Edgar Millán Goméz - the head of the nation's federal police force who was assassinated May 8 at his home in Mexico City. More than 300 officers died in 2007.

More asylum cases

While large-scale, sustained attacks on police have largely taken place west of the Rio Grande Valley's border with Mexico, flare-ups have occurred here.

In January, suspected cartel operatives killed two federal policemen during a shootout outside Reynosa's downtown Hotel Virrey.

Earlier this month, Francisco Javier Hernández Zamorano, the head of federal police efforts in Tamaulipas, was kidnapped from a Reynosa restaurant. He still has not been found.

Harlingen attorney Thelma Garcia, who specializes in political asylum cases, said more residents along Tamaulipas' northern border are seeking refuge to escape the threat of violence.

She recently worked on an asylum case involving a man who cooperated with Mexican investigators in a drug investigation.

"We're seeing more asylum cases over all from Mexico," she said. "But it's too soon to tell whether they are being approved."

Pérez, the former Puerto Palomas police chief, remains in the custody of U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement while his case is under review and could not be reached for comment.

His former city has already hired a replacement and maintains they will continue to keep city streets safe.

But like his predecessor, the new chief remains concerned for his safety, The Washington Post reported last month.

He won't live in the town and hopes to move his family to the United States soon.

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Jeremy Roebuck covers courts and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4437.

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WHAT IS POLICAL ASYLUM?

Political asylum is an international right allowing protection to the unjustly persecuted away from their home countries.

To claim it in the United States, a foreign national must prove they are threatened at home based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular group.

Between fiscal years 2001 and 2006, more than 3,000 Mexican nationals sought asylum in the United States, according to data from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Fewer than 10 percent of those requests were granted.