Mexico has begun outlining a plan of action should President-elect Donald Trump make good on threats of carrying out the “largest deportation program in American history” when he moves into the White House for a second time.
The strategy focuses on helping Mexican nationals on both sides of the border — from developing a mobile app for immigrants to notify Mexican consulates in the U.S. of impending deportations to opening new migrant shelters in Baja California and elsewhere along the northern border to accommodate thousands of expected deportees.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum this past week promised to protect the civil rights of Mexican citizens.
“We will continue to defend Mexicans (in the U.S.),” Sheinbaum said Thursday. “And if there are deportations, we will be ready to receive them.”
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Sheinbaum, who was sworn in herself a few months ago, has the challenge of not only dealing with the logistics of mass deportations but of striking a delicate balance politically with Trump, who has pressured Mexico to, among other things, step up its efforts to reduce illegal immigration into the U.S. So far, that cooperation has appeared to have had an effect on the reduced number of migrant crossings.
Sheinbaum has said she expects a good and respectful relationship with the United States despite Trump’s tariff threats, but she insisted this week that deportees be repatriated to their countries of origin and that Mexico would only accept Mexican citizens. Mexico has received people from certain other countries under previous agreements with the U.S.
There are an estimated 11.5 million first-generation Mexicans living in the United States, 4.8 million of whom are undocumented, Mexican officials said Friday. In San Diego County, there are about 120,000 undocumented Mexicans, according to the Mexican consulate.
“We don’t really know what’s going to happen,” Baja California Gov. Marina del Pilar Ávila said Monday. “We know what we’ve all heard through a campaign. (Trump) has already been president of the United States, so we think that this time he can actually be harsher on the issue of deportations.”
Trump has vowed a crackdown on illegal immigration that would likely face logistical, financial and legal hurdles. The incoming Trump administration has said that while it will prioritize people with criminal records, its four-year plan includes all those who are in the country undocumented.
Mexico’s 53 consulates in the United States — said to be the largest consular network in a single country — will be the front line of defense.
“From the moment we learned of the incoming administration’s immigration plans, all Mexican consulates were instructed by the secretary of foreign affairs and the president of Mexico to begin working with strategic allies to strengthen our legal response capabilities,” said Alicia Kerber, consul general of Mexico in San Diego.
Kerber, who took the position in San Diego earlier this year, said the consulate’s Protection and Documentation departments, which provide legal advice and help with issuing identification documents, will be fully staffed.
Mexican consulates across the U.S. have also strengthened their legal assistance program with the hiring of 329 legal advisers and representation in labor, civil, criminal and immigration matters, Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs Juan Ramón de la Fuente said Friday.
The legal teams will work with Mexico’s consular network to ensure that due process is upheld when nationals are detained, officials said.
Kerber said the consulate will hold know-your-rights sessions with legal advisers and that a 24/7 emergency number has been set up. The Centro de Información y Asistencia a Personas Mexicanas, or CIAM, can be reached at 520-623-7874.
De la Fuente also announced the development of a mobile application called Botón de Alerta, or Alert Button. Mexican immigrants can send a notification through the app to the nearest consulate and to pre-registered family members when detention seems imminent. The app is in the testing phase and “appears to be working very well,” De la Fuente said. It will be available in January.
Mexico is also expected to open 25 new migrant shelters along its northern border, seven of which are proposed for Baja California, specifically in Tijuana and Mexicali, Ávila, the state’s governor, said Monday.
The shelters will exclusively serve deportees and help them return to their home states if they choose to do so. The shelters will be up and running before Trump’s inauguration, officials said.
Later in the week, Tijuana Mayor Ismael Burgueño had a different proposal: leasing a 105,000-square-meter industrial warehouse to open a main shelter for 5,000 people.
Burgueño said the site, which is located in southern Tijuana, would not affect public spaces such as sports facilities, where temporary shelters have been set up in the past.
Services ranging from health and psychological care to food will be provided at the site, officials said. “We are ready for anything that could happen,” Burgueño added.
While there could be one main shelter, others could be set up throughout the city as needed, a city spokesperson later said.
The new shelters would add to the 44 existing ones, mostly run by nonprofits, in Baja California, according to state officials. Most of the shelters are currently being used by migrants waiting at the border for an appointment to present their asylum case at a U.S. port of entry, officials noted.
That is the case at the Juventud 2000 migrant shelter, located in Tijuana near the U.S.-Mexico border. On Thursday, 105 people, mostly Mexican nationals, were waiting at the shelter for an appointment.
The shelter’s director, José María García, praised the coordination between federal, state and local governments to take preventive action in light of the expected increase in deportations.
But García urged Mexican officials to set up integration programs for deportees who choose to stay in Baja California, including assistance with job opportunities, housing and medical care. Historically, he said, many deportees have stayed in border states because they want to be closer to relatives who have remained in the United States.
“We hope they do a good job,” he said of Mexico’s plan. But he stressed that it is imperative to provide assistance to deportees, whose lives will be changed overnight.
“Many of them are leaving families, mothers, fathers or their spouses,” he said. “They are leaving a whole life behind.”
