Mexico City — Hardly a day goes by here when the Mexican president or one of his advisers doesn't talk about a plan being drawn up if President-elect Donald Trump carries out his threats of mass deportations and punitive tariffs – proof of how Mexico is vulnerable to a policy change in Washington.
The latest from Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum's administration is a “panic button” – an emergency cell phone application designed to allow Mexican citizens fearful of detention and deportation in the United States to alert diplomats and relatives of their plight .
Sheinbaum also says her administration has increased staff at the more than 50 Mexican consulates in the United States and hired consultants to provide legal assistance to people facing possible deportation.
Trump's comments have caused widespread unease among Mexican officials, business leaders on both sides of the border and millions of Mexican immigrants in the United States.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has spoken out against President-elect Donald Trump's deportation threats.
(Fernando Llano/Associated Press)
Sheinbaum, who calls Mexican migrants “heroes,” opposes Trump's mass deportation plan but is cautious in her criticism of Trump himself.
Mexican nationals who could face deportation “are not alone and will not be alone,” Mexico's Foreign Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente promised last month, speaking to reporters during one of Sheinbaum's daily morning news conferences.
The Mexican government estimates that there are about 4.8 million Mexicans living illegally in the United States, by far the largest number of any nationality. Some have lived in the North for decades, have U.S.-born children, own homes and run businesses.
Trump and his representatives did not provide any detailed information about the design of his deportation plan. Some aides have talked about prioritizing crackdowns on undocumented immigrants with criminal records and outstanding deportation orders, long-standing goals of U.S. immigration authorities.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill Tuesday that would require the deportation of immigrants who are in the country illegally and have been charged with nonviolent crimes.
And some Trump officials have not ruled out expanded raids on workplaces and raids on immigrant communities.
It is unclear whether Sheinbaum and her administration have any hope that Trump's deportation threats – a central plank of his campaign – can be averted. Her public stance is to convince Trump of the importance of Mexican workers to key U.S. industries, including agriculture, meat processing and hospitality. But Trump and his allies have shown little sympathy for this argument.
Vulnerable Mexican citizens “need to know they have rights,” Sheinbaum told reporters. “You can’t just deport a person, detain them and take them to the border. There are a number of legal procedures that must be followed.”
Formal deportation cases can take months or even years to resolve before immigration judges.
A legal assistance program for Mexicans living in the United States now includes more than 300 counselors in Mexico's 53 U.S. consulates, according to the government, and also receives voluntary assistance from counselors and law firms.
Some critics question whether the Mexican government's preparations will be effective or whether they really should be.
“The panic button, the consulate stuff – it's all just a pretext to give the impression that they're doing something in response to Trump,” said Irineo Mujica, who heads the human rights group Pueblo Sin Fronteras. “Basically, they will give in to whatever Trump wants.”
The so-called Panic Button app, set to be fully rolled out this month, would allow citizens to notify officials at the nearest Mexican consulate — as well as pre-selected family members — of enforcement actions targeted at them, officials say.
Questions remain about how the app will work and when it will be generally available. It will be easy to use and designed to be used when someone is facing “imminent incarceration,” De la Fuente said. Some immigration lawyers in Texas have launched a similar initiative, albeit on a smaller scale, and it has proven to be an effective tool, the secretary of state said.
“If someone is detained, regardless of their migration status, the most important thing is that the consulate is notified,” De la Fuente said. “This ensures that the consulate is informed and we can react quickly.”
According to the State Department, aliens detained in the United States must be made aware of the option to notify the nearest consulate or embassy. Immigration advocates say arrested migrants are often not informed of this option.
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation officer conducts a briefing before an operation in New York's Bronx last month.
(Julia Demaree Nikhinson/Associated Press)
People going through immigration proceedings may hire lawyers, but often cannot afford the fees – or may not know how to go about finding a lawyer. Unlike defendants, people detained for immigration violations are not entitled to a court-appointed attorney. Various studies have shown that legal advice significantly reduces the likelihood of deportation.
De la Fuente said Mexican authorities are also making “extensive efforts” to encourage compatriots in the United States with U.S.-born children to register their names and those of their children with consulates. One of the big fears of mass deportations is that raids could separate U.S. citizen children from their undocumented parents — or even lead to the deportation of U.S. citizen minors.
In Mexico, the migrant panic button plan was met with considerable skepticism. Some have noted that authorities in Mexico are often slow to respond to emergency calls reporting crimes or to the many fixed panic buttons in parks and other places designed to call police.
“Will Batman and Robin come to the rescue?” one person asked on social media after the government unveiled the app plan.
Additionally, many remain unconvinced that Mexican consulates — which, like other parts of the Mexican government, have experienced budget cuts in recent years — will be of much help in the face of widespread deportations. Mujica said consulates are often viewed with suspicion by Mexican migrants. “They treat people like second-class citizens,” Mujica said.
Another element of Sheinbaum's plan is to increase aid to deportees in Mexican border cities and elsewhere in Mexico. “They will be welcomed with social programs … and all the help they need,” Sheinbaum said, but offered few details.
Skeptics note that Mexican authorities have traditionally done little to help Mexican nationals who are being deported or otherwise returned to Mexico on a daily basis – other than welcoming them and offering free or discounted bus rides back to their areas of origin.
Special correspondent Cecilia Sanchez Vidal in Mexico City contributed to this report.