[sevnson_71]

So here is the story. Due to the ongoing and rather brutal drug war in Mexico people are signing up in desperation for asylum in the US, in this case reporters for the Mexican press. According to globalsecurity.org 4,287 US troops have been killed in the war in Iraq. More than five times that number of Mexican civilians have been killed by Mexican drug gangs in their own home, in a country that we share a border with. Less than 2% of those Mexicans who request asylum are granted it.
So as a devil's advocate i ask this. We have an active embargo with the basically stable Cuban state. Yet all Cuban refugees who land upon our shores are granted asylum provided they don't have a criminal record. Instead of rounding em up and sending them home, should we be granting asylum to those who ask, with the provision they work with the US and Mexico as an ex-patriot force in preventing the trouble in their homeland from spilling over to ours more than it has and maybe provide them the peace and stability they seek on our side of the border so they need not flee their homes for a future as a "safe" fugitive here(Think like how the Kurds in Iraq or further back those in German occupied nations in WW2.) ?

[JulesLuvsShinzon]

I'm tempted to say "yes" they should be given the access to asylum as those people coming from other countries where staying would endanger lives. Anothr answer would be for the US government to support law enforcement inside Mexico in order to lessen the effect of drug wars. A war is a war - whether it's based on ethnic cleansing, battles for control of a country and its people, or controlled substances. The effect of personal safety is just the same.

One thing I've noticed about America is that there seems to be a real antithesis towards Mexicans and I can't work out why. I gather that many of them try to enter the US illegally, and I understand that's about as annoying to American citizens as those economic migrants that try to sneak into Britain from France and take advantage of our tolerence, generous welfare system, and our free health care. (Generally Europe takes a much harder line with illegral immigrants and asylum seekers generally.) However, I sense an undertone that is akin to racism in some areas, and maybe this has something to do with why there might be an unequal playing field when it comes to Mexicans seeking asylum from travails in their own country.

[sevnson_71]

JulesLuvsShinzon, on 26 September 2010 - 12:31 PM, said:

I'm tempted to say "yes" they should be given the access to asylum as those people coming from other countries where staying would endanger lives. Anothr answer would be for the US government to support law enforcement inside Mexico in order to lessen the effect of drug wars. A war is a war - whether it's based on ethnic cleansing, battles for control of a country and its people, or controlled substances. The effect of personal safety is just the same.

One thing I've noticed about America is that there seems to be a real antithesis towards Mexicans and I can't work out why. I gather that many of them try to enter the US illegally, and I understand that's about as annoying to American citizens as those economic migrants that try to sneak into Britain from France and take advantage of our tolerence, generous welfare system, and our free health care. (Generally Europe takes a much harder line with illegral immigrants and asylum seekers generally.) However, I sense an undertone that is akin to racism in some areas, and maybe this has something to do with why there might be an unequal playing field when it comes to Mexicans seeking asylum from travails in their own country.

We generally have good relations with Mexico, they are one of a few nations in the world(the other major one being Canada) where a US citizen doesn't need to carry a full passport, but merely a WHTI card like below.



This op-ed article from the LA Times is older but sums up the problem in Mexico pretty well. They have always had some corruption, but in spite of best efforts up to and including training and assisting their Federales their government seems impotent to stopping them from slowly but surely turning into another Columbia.

[JulesLuvsShinzon]

Yes, I get the impression that Mexico is on the point of subsiding into an almost third world state because it seems to be losing thre battle with drug crime. To be fair, I should say that a lot of the anti-Mexican statements tend to have come from very conservative US forums.

[sevnson_71]

Well to be fair, the Mexican mafia isn't helping their cause in that regard either, as they are actually on BOTH sides of the border. And sadly that means like with the Italians, the group gets looked down upon for the thuggish behavior of a small portion of them.