Cycles of denial : US reception of drug-war refugees from Mexico through the asylum system

Abstract

This thesis will focus on the recent increase in the number of Mexican nationals applying for asylum in the United States and the disproportionate denial of their claims. It will help clarify national debates regarding asylum, shed light on bi-national socio-political conditions, and raise important questions about the human rights of asylum seekers, including the United States’ obligations regarding those rights. It is also work that adds a rarely considered perspective to the scholarship on Mexican migration by focusing on migrants who are motivated by violence rather than economic factors.