Mexico's Youngest Police Chief Flees To US
The Wall Street Journal reports:
A young woman who volunteered to lead her Mexican hometown's police department after a predecessor was beheaded by drug gangs has fled her post to seek asylum in the U.S., authorities said Tuesday.
Marisol Valles was declared in headlines "The Bravest Woman in Mexico" when she took the job in the Mexican town of Práxedis G. Guerrero last year. Now, she is seeking asylum near El Paso, Texas, said Gustavo de la Rosa, the human-rights ombudsman in the Mexican state of Chihuahua where Práxedis is located. Ms. Valles couldn't be reached for comment and it wasn't clear if she was represented by an attorney.
A spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Ms. Valles was in the U.S., adding that "she will have the opportunity to present the facts of her case before an impartial immigration judge." He said he couldn't comment further because of privacy concerns.
Ms. Valles's asylum request adds to Mexico's struggle to convince both the U.S. and its own people that it can take on drug gangs that have killed more than 31,000 people since the nation declared war on them in 2006.
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