Mexican Police Chief to Seek Asylum in U.S.

Last October, Marisol Valles Garcia, a 20-year-old college student from Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, was hired as police chief of the small border town, Praxedis Guadalupe Guerrero in Chihuahua; a town taken over by drug cartels and corruption. Marisol was studying criminology and was offered the job after two other job candidates stepped down when the town’s mayor and his son were killed. Now, after just five months on the job, Marisol has reportedly fled Praxedis for the United States. It is reported that after Marisol received death threats from a criminal group that wanted to force her to work with them, she fled to the U.S. last week with her husband and son to seek asylum.

Two months ago another Mexican border down was left without a police chief. Police chief and sole officer on the force in Guadalupe, Erika Gandara, was kidnapped. Erika’s fate is still unknown.

To read more on Marisol’s story and her quest for asylum, please visit http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41904784/ns/world_news-americas/?GT1=43001

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New Hope for Guatemalan Women Seeking Asylum

On July 12, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals directed immigration judges and the Board of Immigration Appeals to give new consideration to the cases of Guatemalan women seeking asylum in the United States.

The Petitioner, Lesly Yajayra Perdomo, lost her asylum case before the immigration judge and also before the Board of Immigration Appeals. In her petition for review to the Court of Appeals, Perdomo argued that she should be granted political asylum because, as a woman, she would face almost-certain death if forced to return to Guatemala.

Successful asylum applicants must show they were persecuted because of religion, political beliefs, race, nationality, or membership in a particular social group. At issue in Perdomo's case is the definition of a "particular social group." A "particular social group" has been defined by the Board of Immigration Appeals as a group with members who share a common, immutable characteristic that members of the group either cannot change, or should not be required to change because it is fundamental to their individual identities or consciences. The group must also possess "social visibility" and "particularity".

The two lower courts ruled against Perdomo, arguing that all Guatemalan women is too broad a category to constitute a particular social group. However, the Court of Appeals cited to previous cases in which it concluded that females, or young girls of a particular clan, satisfied the definition of a particular social group. The Court stated that it has only rejected certain social groups as too broad where there is no unifying relationship or characteristic to narrow the diverse and disconnected group. The Court recognized that women share innate characteristics and can therefore be appropriately categorized as a particular social group.

The statistics for asylum claims from Guatemala remain dismal - 3,250 applications were received in 2009, with only 155 granted - however, the 9th Circuit holding opens the door for immigration attorneys to begin making the argument that women can constitute a social group.

Read Perdomo v. Holder here: http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2010/07/12/06-71652.pdf

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MILITARY RECRUITMENT PILOT PROGRAM

The Secretary of Defense authorized the military services to recruit certain legal aliens whose skills are considered to be vital to the national interest. Those holding critical skills - physicians, nurses, and certain experts in language with associated cultural backgrounds - would be eligible. To determine its value in enhancing military readiness, the limited pilot program will recruit up to 1,000 people, and will continue for a period of up to 12 months. Read More

ELIGIBILITY
1. The applicant must be in one of the following categories at time of enlistment
a. asylee, refugee, Temporary Protected Status (TPS), or
b. non-immigrant categories E, F, H, I, J, K, L, M, O, P, Q, R, S, T, TC, TD, TN, U, or V

2. The applicant must have been in valid status in one of those categories for at least two years immediately prior to the enlistment date, but it does not have to be the same category as the one held on the date of enlistment; and

3. An applicant who may be eligible on the basis of a non-immigrant category at time of enlistment (see 1b above) must not have had any single absence from the United States of more than 90 days during the two year period immediately preceding the date of enlistment.

HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS
· Applicants must fill medical specialties where the service has a shortfall
· Applicants must meet all qualification criteria required for their medical specialty, and the criteria for foreign-trained DoD medical personnel recruited under other authorities
· Applicants must demonstrate proficiency in English
· Applicants must commit to at least 3 years of active duty, or six years in the Selected Reserve

ENLISTED INDIVIDUALS WITH SPECIAL LANGUAGE SKILLS AND CULTURAL BACKGROUNDS
· Applicants must possess specific language and culture capabilities in a language critical to DoD
· Applicants must demonstrate a language proficiency
· Applicants must meet all existing enlistment eligibility criteria
· Applicants must enlist for at least 4 years of active duty

Languages
· Albanian · Amharic · Arabic · Azerbaijani · Bengali · Burmese · Cambodian-Khmer · Chinese · Czech · Hausa · Hindi · Hungarian · Igbo · Indonesian · Korean · Kurdish · Lao · Malay · Malayalam · Moro · Nepalese
· Persian [Dari & Farsi] · Polish · Punjabi · Pushtu (aka Pashto) · Russian · Sindhi · Sinhalese · Somali · Swahili · Tamil · Turkish · Turkmen · Urdu · Yoruba

If you have questions regarding these changes or other immigration issues, please contact Joseph Law Firm, P.C.

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