The drug wars in Mexico have claimed the lives of over 10,000 people since 2007 in street violence alone. Mexico is a major transit and source country for illicit drugs reaching the United States.The fighting is related to the incredibly profitable sale of illegal drugs in the United States.
Craig Shagin is on the cutting edge of this emerging human rights issue and has received national recognition for his handling of asylum cases of Mexican citizens who are fleeing drug cartel violence in Mexico. He has appeared on CNN and has been widely quoted in the Los Angeles Times and other major news outlets following this story. A member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, Craig Shagin is in private practice in Pennsylvania, where his firm is active in immigration law, representing clients in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New York. Previously, he was Chief Counsel of Pennsylvania?s Department of Commerce, later the Department of Commerce and Economic Development.
Craig Shagin is author of numerous articles and books on various aspects of immigration law. These include, ?Deporting Private Ryan: The Less Than Honorable Condition of the Non-Citizen in the United States Armed Forces? 17 Widener Law Journal 245 (2007); ?Aliens in the University: A Foreign Student?s Guide to American Immigration Law? (2006); Preparing for a Spousal Adjustment Interview published by Gecko Books in 2006 and translated into Russian in 2007; and What Every Pennsylvania Criminal Defense Lawyer Needs to Know About Immigration Law (2005).