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COMMENTARY OF THE DAY
By
Robert Namer
Voice Of America
©2025 All rights reserved
January 14, 2025

     Mexico is developing an app that will allow migrants in the U.S. facing deportation to alert their family members and local U.S. consulates if they are about to be detained by authorities, a senior official said Friday. He added that his government plans to ensure that each Mexican citizen is given due process in the U.S. before being potentially ejected from the country.   Mexico will find itself in a losing battle with Trump.

     The app, called "Alert Button," is being designed in anticipation of the mass deportations of illegal migrants expected to occur after President-elect Trump is sworn into office on Jan. 20. A cornerstone of Trump’s second term in office is to secure the border and carry out the largest mass deportation program the U.S. has ever seen.  Many Mexican nationals who are in the U.S. illegally will likely be targeted by the new Trump administration. The Mexican government estimates there are 11.5 million migrants with some form of legal residency in the United States and 4.8 million without legal residency or proper documents. 

     The new app, which is expected to be available in January, will allow users to press a tab to send an alert notification to previously chosen relatives and the nearest Mexican consulate, of which there are 53 in the U.S.       "In case you find yourself in a situation where detention is imminent, you push the alert button and that sends a signal to the nearest consulate," Mexico’s secretary of foreign affairs Juan Ramón de la Fuente said.

     He said it has already been rolled out for small-scale testing and "appears to be working very well." De la Fuente described it as a sort of panic button, adding that his office has beefed up its consular staff by hiring "329 legal representatives" to ensure that Mexicans facing deportation will be given due process and are properly informed of their rights before potential removal. 

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