United States based on `` credible fear '' has gone up every year since 2003 , even as the overall number of `` credible fear '' asylum cases remains steady . In 2003 , the USCIS reported 54 asylum cases from Mexican citizens . In 2008 , that number reached 312 . But asylum requests based on fear of violence are n't easy cases to make . Last year , the United States approved less than half of those cases . `` Whether they 're fleeing extortionists or potential kidnappers or they 're leaving because of the drug cartels , it tells you there are definitely problems in Mexico right now , '' said El Paso Mayor John Cook . Those seeking asylum come from every walk of life . There are journalists , entrepreneurs and even law enforcement officials , including three police chiefs . For Raymond Cobos , the sheriff in Luna County , New Mexico , this is the most disturbing revelation . Just across the Mexican border is a dusty , far-flung outpost called Palomas , a speck of a town that 's a popular path for drug trafficking and human smuggling . It 's also
EL PASO , Texas -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The cell phone rang as Jorge Aguirre walked to a friend 's funeral in Juarez , Mexico , last November -- a funeral for a fellow journalist who , Aguirre says , was assassinated for the critical stories he wrote . Mexican federal police recently began patrolling Ciudad Juarez , just across the border from El Paso , Texas . When he answered the phone , Aguirre heard a profanity-laced threat . `` They told me I was next , '' Aguirre told CNN . `` I thought they were going to kill me right there . '' Aguirre immediately gathered up his family and darted across the border into El Paso , Texas . He has n't returned to Juarez since that day . Aguirre is seeking asylum in the United States , and he 's part of a growing trend among Mexican citizens looking to escape the violence and corruption of their homeland . Watch journalists met with death threats '' According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services , an agency that falls under the Department of Homeland Security , the number of Mexican nationals requesting asylum in the