According to the Brownsville (Texas) Herald, “tens of thousands of Mexican nationals, including many journalists, officials and business leaders… have relocated to the United States since Mexican President Felipe Calderón launched a sweeping offensive against drug organizations in 2006.  But because the legal standards of asylum are so high — and some researchers say even outdated — many… face devastating challenges when it comes to reaching a safe haven in the United States.”

The number of succesful asylum seekers from Mexico is small.  According to the Executive Office for Immigration Review, in 2009, only 62 out of 2,816 (or 2.2%) of Mexican asylum seekers received asylum in the U.S.  The numbers are relatively unchanged from previous years: In 2008, we granted 2.1% of claims and in 2007, we granted 1.6%. 

“The reason so many petitions are rejected is that asylum standards were set in an older time period,” said Susan Ginsburg of the Migration Policy Institute.  “Most people who have qualified for the status have fled communist regimes, dictatorships and civil wars — not criminal violence or genuine fear of violent death at the hands of drug gangs.”

“We are used to seeing the need for protection from governments and states, and this (the migration we are seeing now) is a fear of persecution from nonstate actors, criminal gangs that have taken control of areas of the country.”  If the crisis continues to escalate, perhaps we will need to rethink our asylum policies.