REPORTER, SON SEEK ASYLUM

EL PASO -- Emilio Gutierrez Soto only had time to take his teenage
son, a few clothes and memories of 25 years as a newspaper reporter
when he fled his native Mexico last month, fearing for his life.

Gutierrez, of the small town of Ascension, Chihuahua, is among the
more than 60 Mexican citizens who have asked for political asylum at
border crossings in the El Paso region since October, spurred in part
by a raging drug cartel war.

"I have no desire to return to Mexico. It would mean death,"
Gutierrez, 45, said in a recent telephone interview from an
immigration detention center in El Paso.

Gutierrez is awaiting a hearing, which may not come until December.
He asked for asylum June 16 at the border crossing at Antelope Wells
in the Bootheel of New Mexico.

"The decision to come here (the U.S.) was because of the terror. An
attempt to save the life of my son. He's my only hope," Gutierrez
said in Spanish. His 15-year-old son is being held at a juvenile
detention center.

Gutierrez, who wrote for El Diario del Noroeste, claims that Mexican
army officials targeted him for death after he wrote about
allegations of crimes committed by soldiers in communities in the
rural northwestern part of Chihuahua state.

Gutierrez's plea comes at a time when international press freedom
organizations have labeled Mexico as the deadliest country in the
Americas for journalists.

Last month, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued a report
stating that 21 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 2000.
Seven were killed in reprisal for their work. Seven others have been
missing since 2005. The committee ranks the danger level in Mexico
with that in such war zones as Iraq, Somalia and Sierra Leone.

Being a reporter in Mexico is "fine for those that cover sociales
(the social scene) and entertainment. There is not much difference
between politics and police news. It's the same garbage," said
Gutierrez, a Nuevo Casas Grandes native who has worked for several
newspapers in Chihuahua.

The troubles for Gutierrez began in 2005 when he reported allegations
that soldiers had been involved in crimes, including a hotel robbery
in Palomas, stated a detailed 12-page handwritten account by Gutierrez.

Gutierrez was confronted by army officers angered over his articles.
"So you are the son of a whore who has been disparaging us," an army
major reportedly told Gutierrez.

The major asked Gutierrez why he didn't report on the
narcotraffickers in town. Gutierrez responded that he didn't know who
the traffickers were and that he was afraid of them.

"You should be afraid of us," the major warned before reportedly
telling Gutierrez not to write any more stories.

Two days later, an article on the confrontation was reported in the
newspaper. Problems escalated. Gutierrez said that he filed a
complaint with Mexico's National Commission on Human Rights but that
nothing was solved.

On May 5, soldiers raided and searched Gutierrez' home after
supposedly getting an anonymous tip about drugs and weapons. The
raid, which turned up nothing, was also reported in the newspaper.

Gutierrez began to noticed he was being followed and watched, his
account stated.

"I would hardly sleep at my home. I would sleep at the office or at
friends' homes. I was in a state of stress," he said.

On June 15, a friend told Gutierrez that he should leave because the
military was going to kill him.

"The sensation I had was cold. ... When they told me, I didn't doubt
it for an instance," Gutierrez said. "My mind went blank. What will I
do? What will happen?"

He and his son hid out at a friend's ranch before heading to the U.S.
border the next day, praying not to run into a military checkpoint.
"At the border, they asked me what I had with me. I told them,
'Fear,' " Gutierrez said.

The international press freedom group Reporters Without Borders has
urged the Mexican federal government to open an investigation into
the army and has urged U.S. authorities to give Gutierrez permission
to stay in this country.

The Mexican Embassy in Washington, D.C., did not immediately return a
call for comment Friday. In recent years, Mexico has strengthened
laws to protect journalists.

The press in Mexico has historically not been immune to corruption,
including reporters paid bribes for coverage. It is also rumored that
drug cartels have associates at publications to ensure that some
things are not reported.

Maria Elena Upson, spokeswoman for the U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Service, said that anyone can file for asylum but that
the burden of proof is on the applicant. Refugees must prove they
would be persecuted in their country because of their race, religion,
nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.

"The basic problem is the U.S. won't denounce it (persecution)
because Mexico is an ally and they won't admit the level of
corruption and persecution that exists," said immigration lawyer
Carlos Spector, who is representing Gutierrez.

Spector said he felt the number of Mexicans seeking political asylum
- -- with claims that their government won't protect them -- would
continue to grow as they flee the violent-crime wave that has left
more than 600 dead this year alone in Juarez.

But because asylum seekers are held in detention centers until their
cases are heard, many simply give up their claims, Spector said.

"I think the situation in Mexico has deteriorated so much, the police
forces are so infiltrated and corrupt that chaos has ensued," Spector
said. "Criminals are acting with impunity."