[LINK] "9,000 'ordinary people' flee Mexican drug war"

[rfmcdonald]

The article "9,000 'ordinary people' flee Mexican drug war" by Marina Jiménez alarmed me.

A record number of Mexicans are fleeing to Canada, claiming their own country cannot keep them safe as it struggles to contain a grisly narcotics war that is spilling into nightclubs and restaurants.

There are currently 9,070 Mexican refugee claimants waiting to have their cases heard, the largest number yet from one country since the Immigration and Refugee Board was established in 1989.

[. . .]

In several rulings perused by The Globe and Mail, the IRB believes the claimants' horrifying tales of violence, but rejects their claims on the grounds they must turn to their own country for protection.

Recently, though, the Federal Court of Canada has overturned a half-dozen decisions, questioning how ordinary Mexicans can seek protection from the state when police officers are corrupt, or under fire themselves.

Gadiel Flores Angeles, a taxi driver from Mexico City whom police kidnapped, beat and extorted money from, won a new hearing last month.

Judge Douglas R. Campbell pointed out the impossibility of Mr. Angeles and his wife turning to the Mexican police or state for protection "when the agents of persecution are the ... police."

[. . .]

Mexico has been Canada's top source country for refugees for the past four years, with Mexicans now making up one-third of all refugee claimants. However, the acceptance rate for Mexicans is just 11 per cent, compared with an overall acceptance rate of 34 per cent.

I'm surprised that there are only nine thousand applicants. Canada's Mexican-Canadian of some twenty thousand may well be poised for massive growth.