b'F ederal immigration law provides two sets of rules for people ap-prehended after entering the U.S. illegally, one for Mexican na-tionals, and one for those who are Other Than Mexican (OTM). Mexicans caught near the border who have crossed illegally are, in most cases, simply processed and bussed back to Mexico. However, illegal immigrants from countries other than Mexico cannot be de-ported to Mexico, but only directly to their home countrieseven though the migrant entered Mexico first, and then crossed its territory before entering the U.S., Mexico will not accept citizens from other countries returned by the U.S. Therefore, migrants from Central American countries must be treated according to their OTM status and are identified, screened for open warrants for major crimes, and will appear in front of an immigration judge who will assign a court date for a formal hearingthese court dates are typically running two years out, and with a shortage of judges, there is no end in sight for many cases.Some of the migrants from the Northern Triangle will take the more formal and legal route to securing residency in the U.S., and that is to claim refugee status by formally applying for asylumthe first step of which is to make a Cred-ible Fear claim to an asylum officer. The idea is to establish that the applicant honestly believes that his or her life is at risk in their homeland, and 80-90% of these claims are initially approved by reviewing officers. The second part of the asylum qualification process gets decided at the asylum hearing, at least a year after apprehension. The deciding factor is whether the asylum seeker would be persecuted in their home country, based on at least one of five specific factors: race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or affiliation with a particular so-cial groupfactors agreed upon by the U.S. and most every country on earth at the United Nations in 1951. The Trump Administration has taken steps to reject Credible Fear claims by Central Americans who say that their lives are in danger based on affiliation with a social groupshop owners, for example, who are be-ing extorted for money under threat of bodily harm, family members of those affiliated with street gangs, parents who refuse to sell their children into sex slavery, or those targeted based solely on who their neighbors or friends are.ThefirstCentralAmericanmigrantcrisisattheborderwithMexico emerged in 2014, when over 68,000 unaccompanied minors were apprehended, a 77% increase over the previous year. All of the factors that are contributing to the current situation were at play then: (1) increased gang-related violence in the most active narcotics smuggling regions had spread despair,asithadinMexico;(2)environmentaldisastersthat have hurt peasant farmersa hurricane and mud slides then and a multi-year drought now; (3) increased demand for labor in the U.S. due to an improving economy; (4) rumors of overly generous treatment of children under U.S. immigration laws, perpetuated by smugglers, and; (5) increasingly complex and sophisticated traf-ficking operations through Mexico.The most significant difference between 2014 and 2019, how-ever, is President Donald J. Trump and the stance that he took in 2015 as he faced off against a field of Republican primary candi-dates who were committed to the strategy prescribed in the GOP autopsy report on Mitt Romneys 2012 loss to President Barack Obama. It centered on the notion that Hispanics were the fastest-growing segment of the electorate, and that their needs and sen-sitivities should be front and center to the partys platform. While Jeb Bush called illegal immigration an act of love, Trump labeled illegalimmigrantsfromMexicoas,bringingdrugs,theyre bringing crime, theyre rapists, and some, I assume, are good peo-ple. Trump later vowed to build a giant wall on the southern bor-der, and systematically created an identity for one of a collection of boogeymen at the center of his campaign: Hispanic illegal immi-grants crossing the southern border with Mexico, and his promises UpperThousands of migrants stopped on a bridge between Guatemala and Mexico; LowerMap of Northernto keep them out, kick them out, and to deter them from coming Triangle countries in Central America and how violence is spread along narcotics smuggling routes to Mexico. in the first place. He rallied on how illegal labor was depressing 28 THE COASTAL BEND MAGAZINEFall 2019 TheCoastalBend.com'