This story has been reported in El Diario for the past several days...Two
members of the family--a father and son--were murdered. The son was at his
father's grave in the Villa Ahumada cemetery when he was shot. Others
received death threats by phone. They left the town early in the week and
have been camped out in the offices of the federal Attorney General (PGR)
in Juarez. In a dramatic move, all 20 family members have crossed into the
US to seek asylum, although the latest Diario article said that the Mexican
Attorney General was going to meet in Juarez and discuss how to provide
protection for the family. The Diario articles are posted below.  

There have also been several recent articles in EL Diario on the lack of
any police protection in many of the towns and villages in northern
Chihuahua since 2008 when many police were killed, many fled and others
were dismissed. In 2009, a gun battle took place in Villa Ahumada in which
more than 22 people were killed. Earlier, in May 2008, the Army entered
Villa Ahumada and killed many more then...
Perhaps this case will bring attention to the ongoing and almost unreported
violence in the rural towns and villages surrounding Juarez...

http://www.elpasotimes.com/juarez/ci_11676362
http://www.diario.com.mx/nota.php?notaid=64867e01f436396dac02fdac79da...
http://www.diario.com.mx/nota.php?notaid=0672241219b089976fe04b68410e...
http://www.diario.com.mx/nota.php?notaid=4946a44027c1ba2022273d46b3ee...

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/06/24/mexico-family-20-cro...
Mexico: Family of 20 Crosses into Texas Seeking Asylum after Drug Cartel
Murders

By Joseph Kolb<http://latino.foxnews.com/archive/author/joseph-kolb/index.html>

Published June 24, 2012

Fox News Latino

   - [image: PGR-juarez-ext1.jpg]

   Exterior of the PGR office in Ciudad Juárez where the Boras family was
   holed up for five days before crossing into El Paso, Texas. (Joe Kolb)
   - [image: PGR-office-Juarez_art.jpg]

   Exterior of the PGR office in Ciudad Juárez where the Boras family was
   holed up for five days before crossing into El Paso, Texas. (Joe Kolb)

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CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mex. –  One of the largest families to cross the U.S.-Mexico
border together into Texas in recent years with the hope of securing asylum
arrived in El Paso on Saturday.

After languishing for five days in a hot government office here surviving
on soup, beans, and water, 20 family members crossed the Bridge of the
Americas into El Paso, seeking asylum after two of their relatives were
killed the previous week and death threats against others increased.

Héctor Boras, 45, said he and his family fled Villa Ahumada Tuesday to
Juárez, after his 49-year-old brother, Rudolpho was killed June 16, and his
18-year-old nephew, Jaime, was killed two days later while visiting his
father's new grave.

In a phone interview from the Attorney General’s office in Juárez Saturday,
Boras said the family, which owns small food stands in the area was being
extorted by La Línea, the street enforcement arm of the Vicente Carillo
Fuentes/Juárez Cartel.

"They – the police – are supposed to be here to protect us,” Boras said.
“But while the store was being robbed and my brother shot, they were
sitting outside and did nothing."

Since 2008, Villa Ahumada has been the scene of numerous killings that
included the chief of police, kidnappings and allegations of police
corruption and links to the Juárez Cartel.

"We received threats that they were going to kill more of us, so we grabbed
what we could and left," Boras said.

The family quickly fled en masse to Juárez with an escort from the state
police. Once in the city the family told officials at the Attorney
General’s office, where they thought they would be safe, they were afraid
for their lives and wanted to seek asylum in the United States, but needed
protection for the 10-minute drive to the border, where they could
surrender themselves to Customs and Border Protection officials to make
their request.

"First they wanted to see about helping us, but then they began changing
their mind where as of today (Saturday) they said we can just leave if we
wanted but they wouldn’t protect us," Boras said. "We are afraid."

In a rapid series of events that Boras believes was precipitated by
increasing media coverage, the officials at the Attorney General’s office,
known by its Spanish initials as PGR, agreed to provide security on the
perimeter of the route to the bridge but not an official escort. By around
5 p.m. the family crossed the bridge and was being processed by U.S.
Customs and Border Protection.

Crystal Massey, a human rights advocate with the law office of Carlos
Spector in El Paso, Texas, who has been retained to represent the Boras
family through the asylum process said the family has legitimate concerns.
She said families may come here, “but usually in smaller groups of threes
and fours.”

“We have seen it many times in Chihuahua where families have been killed,”
she said. “This is the largest single family group we have ever seen cross
the border at the same time.”

Massey said last August they saw a group of 14 family members seek asylum.

Officials at both the PGR and U.S. Customs and Border Protection were
unavailable for comment.

Massey said it is not uncommon for asylum seekers to receive escorts to the
El Paso sector bridges from Mexican officials.

“We’ve had several families escorted to the bridge by the military for
protection,” Massey said.

Boras said he doesn't feel the family, which includes his 67-year-old
mother and children as young as three years old, was being held against
their will by the PGR office in Juárez, but without protection the
uncertainty of walking outside was daunting enough to keep them in the
government building until authorities reached a decision.

He said at one point an official from Mexico City was supposed to arrive
and persuade the family to relocate within Mexico, an option Boras had no
interest in discussing.

The family had been languishing in a single room in the drab PGR office
building in downtown Juárez without air conditioning to cool the 104 degree
temperature. They slept on the floor, had no showers, and only could use
one bathroom.

"The PGR is essentially washing their hands of this family by saying that
if they want to leave they can but without any security," said Ruben
Garcia, the director of Annunciation House, an immigrant shelter and
advocacy group in El Paso, Texas. "Héctor told me he was not going to risk
any more of his family without protection."

Boras said as the week wore on not only had there been no further support
from the PGR, the family actually began to fear the very people they turned
to for help.

"We can't trust anyone," Boras said.

Garcia said he believes the Boras family has relatives already in El Paso
they will be staying with.

Though the Boras family was accepted at the border, they still face an
uphill battle to acquire asylum. Most of them will file defensive
applications because they do not possess a valid border crossing card – a
process can take up to four years before an immigration judge makes a
decision.

**

*Joseph J. Kolb is currently an Immigration Journalist Fellow for the
French-American Foundation in New York.*

Read more:
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/06/24/mexico-family-20-cro...

http://www.diario.com.mx/notas.php?f=2012%2F06%2F23&id=677b4758fd9d95...

*El lunes definirán destino de familia; vienen procuradora y funcionarios
federales | Local | Diario.com.mx <http://diario.com.mx/>*

El destino que tendrán los 20 integrantes de cinco familias que solicitaron
protección de la Procuraduría General de la República (PGR) el martes
pasado, debido a que fueron amenazados por integrantes del crimen
organizado, se definirá el próximo lunes, cuando lleguen a la ciudad
funcionarios federales encabezados por la titular de la dependencia,
Marisela Morales Ibáñez.

La procuradora general viene a Juárez para participar en un evento
convocado por el Consulado General de Estados Unidos en esta ciudad, con
motivo del “Día Internacional Contra el Uso Indebido de las Drogas”, que se
llevará a cabo el lunes y cuyas acciones concluirán el miércoles, de
acuerdo con funcionarios de la PGR.

Junto con la titular de la PGR vendrá a esta ciudad el subprocurador de
Derechos Humanos, Miguel Ontiveros Alonso, quien se encargará de definir la
situación de las familias originarias de Ahumada Chihuahua, quienes
permanecen bajo resguardo de las autoridades, en la sede local de la
institución federal.

Personal de la PGR dio a conocer que las 20 personas siguen bajo resguardo
de la dependencia, donde les han proveído de alimentos, atención médica y
lo indispensable, mientras se resuelve su situación.

De acuerdo con Ángel Torres, vocero de la delegación estatal, el Ministerio
Público Federal ha planteado la situación ante diferentes instancias con el
fin de determinar dónde ubicar a los refugiados, sin que a la fecha hayan
encontrado respuesta.

Por ello, se espera que el próximo lunes se tenga una solución a la
petición que hicieron los integrantes de la familia ...

read more »