A young girl, perhaps 12, walks to the front desk at a Border Patrol station in El Paso, Texas.
“Please help me,” she says. “I have come over 1200 miles to seek asylum.”
“Oh my dear,” says the Border Patrol agent behind the desk. “What makes you seek asylum?”
“Well,” she replies, “the city in which I live had forty shootings in one weekend. In one year over 500 were murdered and over 25,000 were assaulted or robbed.”
“That’s terrible,” says the Border Patrol agent.
“Yes,” says Linda. “Two years ago my 15 year old brother joined a gang. He was stabbed to death a week later. Last year my 14 year old brother refused to join the neighborhood gang. Two days later he disappeared. No one has seen him since.”
“I cannot go to school because I am afraid of the gangs. I cannot go outside the small apartment where my mother and I live, because I worry about being attacked by scary people in the streets. We have no money, no possessions and live in constant fear. Finally, I heard that I could seek a better life if I came to El Paso and sought asylum.”
“Why don’t you go to the police?” asks the agent.
Linda looks at him with sad eyes, “The police are helpless to deal with the gangs and the street crimes. They never solved my oldest brother’s murder or my other brother’s disappearance. Thousands of complaints are filed every year against the police for misconduct, sexual abuse and other acts against the people. Nothing is ever done. Going to them will do no good.”
“Horrible,” says the Agent. “Which city are you from?”
Linda replies, “Chicago. Chicago, Illinois.”
Well, will Linda be granted asylum from her deplorable living conditions?
Note: All statistics quoted are accurate. Check for yourself and then decide if Linda deserves political asylum.
David Morse
Pima, AZ