Report: 83 % of El Paso asylum cases denied

by Alejandro MartÃ*nez-Cabrera \ El Paso Times
Posted: 07/19/2011 12:00:00 AM MDT

Immigration judges in El Paso denied 83.3 percent of all political asylum cases they have ruled upon since 2006, according to a recent report.

The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a data research organization from Syracuse University in Syracuse, N.Y., published last week 265 individual profiles on immigration judges who have decided on at least 100 political asylum cases in the last five years.

El Paso Immigration Court Judge Thomas C. Roepke had the third-largest denial rate nationwide, rejecting 96.7 percent of all applications during that timespan.

Roepke denied 148 applications and approved five. Almost half the applications he reviewed were from Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, according to TRAC's report.

Meanwhile, Judge William L. Abbott had a 74.6 percent denial rate. Abbott rejected 144 applications and granted 49, most of which were from Mexico and El Salvador.

The Department of Justice's Executive Office for Immigration Review lists five immigration judges in El Paso, but TRAC only profiled Roepke and Abbott. Both judges' rates are in sharp contrast with the national denial average of 53.2 percent.

In seeking comment from Roepke and Abbott, a representative for the Executive Office for Immigration Review said Monday that immigration judges do not grant interviews.

Local immigration attorney Carlos Spector said immigration judges "are in a learning curve regarding the political realities in Mexico."

"The high denial rate is a reflection of a disproportionate rate of Mexican claims here," Spector said.
Application numbers from Mexico have skyrocketed along with its drug-related violence. During the last fiscal year, U.S. authorities received 5,551 asylum requests from Mexico -- making it one of the top asylum-seeking countries.

Yet according to Department of Homeland Security data, Mexico is not in the top 10 list of nations receiving political asylum. U.S. immigration authorities granted fewer than 200 applications from Mexico last year.

"Denial rates reflect, in part, the differing composition of cases assigned to different immigration judges," the TRAC report said. "For example, being represented in court and the nationality of the asylum seeker appear to often impact decision outcomes. Decisions also appear to reflect, in part, the personal perspective that the judge brings to the bench."

Spector has said applicants have had a difficult time proving they are fleeing for political reasons because of the law's narrow definition of what constitutes political persecution and what merits political asylum.

He also has argued that the U.S. avoids accepting a wide number of asylum claims from Mexico because it could potentially set a precedent, opening the floodgates to more applications.

Spector has said granting asylum in some cases would also accept that Mexican authorities cannot protect their citizens and are sometimes the persecutors. He points out this could put a strain on the United States' relationship with a key partner in its war on drugs.

"I believe that Mexican nationals are discouraged from filing (for political asylum), and part of that is the high denial rate and the detention of applicants as well," Spector said.

A number of prominent cases are pending resolution in El Paso. These include journalist Emilio Gutiérrez, who fled to the United States in 2008 after writing a series of critical articles against the Mexican army, and Marisol Valles, a 21-year-old former police chief in the small municipality of Praxedis G. Guerrero who came to El Paso with her family in March after six months on the job.

Alejandro MartÃ*nez-Cabrera can be reached at a.martinez@elpasotimes.com ; 546-6129.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_18504189