How an asylum application works

The U.S. government does not approve most asylum claims. To get an idea, of the nearly 33,000 asylum petitions filed in fiscal year 2010, less than 10,000 were approved. In the case of Mexican asylum seekers, only 49 of the more than 3,200 petitions filed were approved.

In my column this week in La OpiniónI explain the advantages and disadvantages, how a petition is filed, and under what circumstances a person may qualify for asylum.