U.S. welcomes migrants from terrorist breeding grounds, while rejecting refugees seeking medical treatment

The Obama administration has no problem whatsoever allowing individuals to enter the country illegally from Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Somalia, despite the escalating threat of terrorism in those regions.^[1]

This was demonstrated in late October, when a Syrian woman was caught using someone else’s passport to illegally enter the U.S. from Mexico. Border Patrol apprehended her and her accomplice, only to drop the charges against them the following day. Her current immigration status is unknown.^[2,3]

However, HIV-positive individuals seeking asylum in the U.S. aren’t quite as lucky.

Carlos Bringas-Rodriguez entered into the U.S. illegally from Mexico when he was 14 years old in an attempt to escape sexual abuse. After turning six, Bringas-Rodriguez says he realized he was gay, and, as a result, was beaten by his father and sexually abused by his cousins, an uncle and a neighbor, according to Metropolitan News-Enterprise.^[4]

Asylum seeker says Mexico doesn’t protect gays from abuse

Bringas-Rodriguez snuck into the U.S. in 2004, before resettling with his family in Kansas; however, he ran into trouble six years later when he was convicted of contributing to the delinquency of a minor in Colorado, reports Courthouse News.^[5]

The undocumented immigrant said he was drinking in his home when a friend brought a minor over with him. Bringas-Rodriguez attempted suicide while serving 90 days in jail for his crime.

Regardless, the U.S. moved forward with proceedings to deport him. However, Bringas-Rodriguez petitioned for asylum, withholding of removal and relief under the Convention Against Torture, arguing that if he were sent back to Mexico he would surely face persecution for his sexual orientation.

Because he is gay, Bringas-Rodriguez said Mexican authorities would not protect him, but an immigration judge wasn’t convinced, ruling against his pleas to stay. In a twist, the judge said that it was Bringas-Rodriguez’s “perverse sexual urges” and not his sexual orientation that instigated the abuse.

Court denies asylum request by HIV-positive Mexican man

Because the undocumented immigrant never reported his abuse to Mexican authorities, the judge noted that there was a lack of evidence showing that authorities in his home country would ignore pleas for help if Bringas-Rodriguez were to be targeted again for being a homosexual.

After reviewing information on the topic, the State Department found that “persecution of gays in the country, and particularly in Mexico City, had become rare, meaning that there were at least some parts of Mexico in which the applicant could live without fear of persecution based on sexual orientation,” reports Metropolitan News-Enterprise.

Not long after the ruling, Bringas-Rodriguez found out he was HIV-positive; however, the Board of Immigration Appeals still refused to revive his case. The Ninth Circuit was divided 2-1, refusing to grant the man asylum, citing Castro-Martinez v. Holder, a 2011 court case closely resembling Bringas-Rodriguez’s circumstances.

Lack of HIV drugs in Mexico not enough reason to grant asylum, court finds

“In Castro-Martinez, the circuit denied asylum to a gay, HIV-positive Mexican man because he failed to show Mexican authorities were unwilling to help gay victims of abuse,” Courthouse News reports.

The argument that there’s a lack of HIV drugs in Mexico didn’t work either, as the Board of Immigration said a “lack of access to HIV drugs is a problem suffered not only by homosexuals but by the Mexican population as a whole.”

Bringas-Rodriguez tried to show that his home country was a dangerous place for a gay man, but was able to produce only two reports by the State Department highlighting sexual orientation discrimination in Mexico.

The reports detailed only one example of an individual being persecuted for his sexual orientation in a country of 122 million. “There is no doubt that Bringas did not offer any evidence suggesting that Mexican police refused to protect abused children,” said Judge Jay Bybee, writing for the court. “Both country reports state that in Mexico, discrimination and persecution based on sexual orientation – including discrimination and persecution by governmental officials – had lessened over time,” said Judge William Fletcher, who penned the dissent in Bringas-Rodriguez’s case.

“But they also state that discrimination and persecution remained serious problems, five and six years after Bringas-Rodriguez left the country.”

Sources:

[1] Liberty.news 

[2] Breitbart.com

[3] Breitbart.com

[4] MetNews.com

[5] CourtHouseNews.com