Ciudad Juarez Officer Seeks U.S. Asylum

A police officer from the violent border city of Ciudad Juarez who fled to the U.S. along with his wife and children asked for asylum Tuesday in a Dallas immigration courtroom. Jose Alarcon, 27, and his attorney must prove that as a municipal officer, Alarcon belonged to a persecuted social group and the government was unable to protect him. Houston immigration lawyer Gordon Quan says, to obtain asylum, Alarcon must also demonstrate that his life would be in jeopardy anywhere in Mexico. "The way the law is written," said Quan, "if they could find refuge in another part of the country, they would not be eligible. So that's something probably the immigration judges are looking at; 'Well, instead of living in Juarez, why don't you live in Puebla?'" Alarcon's attorney, Ludo Perez Gardini, told The Dallas Morning News that he believes Alarcon was a specific target because he was an officer who dared to arrest the wrong people. He also said he believes Alarcon was set up to be hunted...more