Collateral Damage: Mexican officer's bid to escape drug war, gain asylum to be heard today in Dallas

Mexican officer's bid to escape drug war, gain asylum to be heard today in Dallas | Dallas Morning News: "José Alarcón's high-profile case and the real-time drama of the U.S.-Mexico drug war are expected to be heard today in a Dallas immigration court.

Alarcón said he was persecuted as a policeman who challenged the plot line of plata-o-plomo, a bribe of silver or lead from drug cartels. His case and the exploding violence in Juárez have some questioning the high asylum rejection rates for Mexicans – particularly for those in security roles fighting, in part, to keep cartels from access to the U.S. markets. ...

The Alarcón case is believed to be the first on the crowded court dockets here – and one of the few nationally – involving a Mexican law enforcement officer. Alarcón and his attorney must prove that as a municipal officer, he belonged to a social group that was persecuted and that the government was unable to protect him." Nov. 23, 2010