Government
Oct. 10, 2007
Teen Gangster's Case Could Push Limits of Political Asylum
An effort by a young man to win political asylum after defecting from a gang in El Salvador has become a test case for undocumented Central American youths who assert they have fled vicious gangs and police reprisals for the safety of the United States. But Mauricio Peña's fate before a federal appeals court is uncertain because immigration judges were troubled by evidence of outlaw behavior both in El Salvador and in Los Angeles.
Daily Journal Staff Writer
Surviving as an orphan on brutal city streets in Santa Ana, El Salvador, Mauricio Peña at age 13 wanted out of the fearsome Mara Salvatrucha gang.
One problem: The gang's MS logo was tattooed across Peña's forehead. Threatened with death if he left the gang, Peña fled to Los Angeles. There, as a teenage refugee, he tried to have the dam...
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