I first saw this story quite while ago. A Mexican girl who decided she’d take on the job of police chief in a Mexican town slammed by the drug war down there was widely lauded as an example of female courage and bravado in the face of the drug gangs. The local men had essentially given up on the fight. Outgunned and facing the likelihood of death and dismemberment at the hands of the criminals, the guys just gave up. Who can blame them? When being a cop means you’re likely to be killed and have your body parts flung about the town square, the job suddenly doesn’t seem all that appealing.

Enter Marisol Valles García, the brave and pretty chick who would take on the Zetas like Lara Croft. Yeah, she’s pretty cute, but it doesn’t seem she was all that good at kicking ass, and perhaps at this point her schtick is getting worn out. Now, facing some rough treatment, she wants us gringos to bail her out.

When I first read about Marisol, I assumed that she was only taking the job because nobody – not even the drug lords – would take her seriously. Sure enough, she spouted the platitudes one might expect from a 20-year-old female college student:

Afraid? Everyone is afraid and it’s very natural. What motivates me here is that the project [to make the community safer] is very good and can do a lot for my town. I know that we are going to change and remove this,” she said.

[...]

The weapons we have are principles and values, which are the best weapons for prevention…

Well, if you ask me, the weapons needed are probably a lot more tangible than that. There are towns in Northern Mexico I wouldn’t even enter without being inside of an M1A1 Abrams tank.

After some time, it seems the local criminal elements had enough of her, and made it known that she’d better sign up with them — or else.

Now, according to reports, she is in the US, and ICE won’t return calls about the status of her asylum request. How brave of her.

Now, if we’re giving asylum to girls who unwisely take on dangerous jobs in towns swept up in the Mexican drug war, I’d like to know what we’re doing for the thousands of Mexican men who face a very real threat of death every day, probably in most cases a more serious threat than this girl. Are we going to give asylum to all of them? Of course not. Yet here we are celebrating this girl’s “bravery” by giving her a free pass to flee a situation she very willingly got herself into. What’s bravery if you never have to face the consequences?

Oh yeah… That’s female bravery.