Thousands of Mexican Asylum Seekers Trying to Beat the Odds in the US Adam Raney - Al Jazeera
go to original June 17, 2015

Almost nine thousand Mexicans applied to the United States for asylum last year, saying they feared for their lives. But only 124 were actually granted the right to live in the US. (Al Jazeera)

Despite spending billions of dollars to fight drug cartels and international criminal organizations south of the border, the United States seems uninterested in taking in victims of the raging violence still happening on its doorstep.

In the 2014 fiscal year there were more applicants from Mexico for asylum in the US than from any other country, with nearly 9,000 Mexicans applying for safe harbor in their neighboring country to the north.

Almost 3,000 more Mexicans applied than Salvadorans. And nearly double the number of Mexicans applied for asylum in the US than Chinese. But Mexicans have a far smaller chance of gaining refugee status in the US.

The exact number of Mexican applicants last year: 8,840. The total that year granted asylum: 124 (not necessarily from the same 2014 fiscal year applicant pool). Over the same period, 4,773 Chinese citizens applied for asylum and 3976 were granted refugee status.

Juan Miguel Cornejo, 38, is hoping to beat the odds.

Read the rest at Al Jazeera

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