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'They treat everyone like criminals': US asylum fails reporter fleeing Mexico
Martín Méndez Pineda thought the US would protect him after months of threats, but instead found conditions worse than what he was aiming to escape
Nina Lakhani in Mexico City
Sunday 28 May 2017 06.00 EDT
When Mexican journalist Martín Méndez Pineda walked across the border bridge to El Paso in February, he thought he would finally be safe.
After months of threats and harassment from corrupt police officers, which forced him to abandon his job and family in Acapulco, Méndez sought asylum in the US.
The 26-year-old reporter thought the US would protect him, given the unprecedented wave of deadly violence against the press in Mexico, which the country’s government seems unable or unwilling to curtail. He was wrong.
Méndez was detained for more than a hundred days in overcrowded custody centres, shackled like a criminal and subjected to hateful taunts from security guards.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/28/us-asylum-immigration-mexico-reporter-journalist-martin-mendez-pineda
Editorials and other articles:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016186259