EL PASO, Texas (CNN) -- The cell phone rang as Jorge Aguirre walked to a friend's funeral in Juarez, Mexico, last November -- a funeral for a fellow journalist who, Aguirre says, was assassinated for the critical stories he wrote. 

Mexican federal police recently began patrolling Ciudad Juarez, just across the border from El Paso, Texas. 

When he answered the phone, Aguirre heard a profanity-laced threat. "They told me I was next," Aguirre told CNN. "I thought they were going to kill me right there." 

Aguirre immediately gathered up his family and darted across the border into El Paso, Texas. He hasn't returned to Juarez since that day. 

Aguirre is seeking asylum in the United States, and he's part of a growing trend among Mexican citizens looking to escape the violence and corruption of their homeland. Watch journalists met with death threats » 

According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, an agency that falls under the Department of Homeland Security, the number of Mexican nationals requesting asylum in the United States based on "credible fear" has gone up every year since 2003, even as the overall number of "credible fear" asylum cases remains steady. 

In 2003, the USCIS reported 54 asylum cases from Mexican citizens. In 2008, that number reached 312. But asylum requests based on fear of violence aren't easy cases to make. Last year, the United States approved less than half of those cases. 

"Whether they're fleeing extortionists or potential kidnappers or they're leaving because of the drug cartels, it tells you there are definitely problems in Mexico right now," said El Paso Mayor John Cook. 
Did he go alone?

Aguirre immediately gathered up his family and darted across the border into El Paso, Texas