BY ALFONSO CHARDY

                      U.S. immigration judges received a record number of asylum petitions from Colombians last year --
                      4,737, a 230 percent increase over 2000.

                      The figures, released by the Justice Department unit that oversees U.S. immigration courts, confirm that
                      the number of Colombian refugees in the United States -- particularly South Florida -- is increasing
                      sharply as result of continuing turmoil in the South American country.

                      ''The numbers clearly highlight that the war in Colombia is displacing Colombian nationals and that more
                      and more people are leaving their country because they fear for their lives and are going wherever
                      they can to find refuge,'' said Esperanza Martínez, executive director of Miami-based Colombian
                      American Service Association.

                      The figures for Colombian asylum petitions released Wednesday by the Executive Office for Immigration
                      Review, are contained in the unit's annual asylum statistics report, which showed a total of 60,853
                      asylum applications for all nationalities received by immigration judges in 2001 -- 2,296 more than in
                      2000.

                      Figures in the annual immigration court report reflect asylum petitions received by immigration judges
                      nationwide. These figures are often lower than asylum statistics reported by INS because their asylum
                      officers generally deal with more asylum applicants than immigration judges.

                      INS asylum officers have the power to grant asylum, but if they have a question about any given
                      application they refer it to an immigration judge who then decides whether the applicant deserves
                      asylum. Foreign nationals can also directly ask an immigration judge for asylum.

                      In the case of Colombian asylum applications, for example, the INS asylum division recently reported a
                      record 7,280 applications in 2001 -- 2,543 more cases than the number of applications received by
                      immigration judges.

                      The difference means that of the 7,280 asylum applications filed by Colombian nationals last year with
                      INS asylum officers, 4,737 were either referred to immigration judges by asylum officers or the
                      Colombians themselves approchaed the judges. Immigration court system officials said asylum
                      applications received by immigration judges also included cases of foreign nationals who asked for
                      asylum as a last-ditch bid to thwart deportation.

                      Perhaps the most glaring example of this tactic was reflected in the 12,675 asylum applications
                      received by immigration judges from Mexican nationals in 2001 -- the largest number of applications
                      filed by any of the nationalities listed in the report.

                      ''Clearly there is no civil war turmoil in Mexico like there is in Colombia,'' said an INS official familiar with
                      asylum statistics. ``What those incredible numbers for Mexican national asylum petitions reflect is
                      last-minute filings of asylum requests to preent a deportation.''