For decades, the American political asylum process has been used to punish enemies and reward friends of the US government. Refugees from Cuba can walk through an open door. People fleeing Eastern Europe have been judged very differently than those trying to escape persecution in “friendly” but deeply violent states like Mexico, El Salvador, Colombia and Honduras. From a storefront law office in the US border city of El Paso, Texas, one man set out to challenge that system. Carlos Specter has...