In a press conference, the Secretary of Foreign Relations commented on the operation of an information and assistance center for Mexicans and said that the development of the digital application (alert button) is in process.

“In case you find yourself facing an imminent arrest, you press an alert button, this sends a signal to the nearest consulate and to the relatives that you have previously preloaded in that application and of course to the Foreign Ministry in Mexico,” he said.

The program, developed with the support of the Digital Transformation Agency and which should be ready in January, “would allow us – he added – to be alert at the moment in which someone perceives the imminent risk that they could be subject to arrest.”

Faced with threats of mass expulsions of migrants by the president-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, the official mentioned other measures promoted in the 53 consulates of the Latin American nation in the neighboring country.

Among these, he pointed out the strengthening of a program of external legal advice with the hiring of 329 more.

Other consultants, offices, lawyers, many of them of Mexican origin, have joined in, who have also voluntarily approached or have responded to the call to have a powerful network of legal advice, he said.

He referred to the complexity of legislation in the field of immigration in the United States, because in addition to the international legal framework, there are federal regulations and those established in each state. The advisory services “have to consider these three legal frameworks and an important part of what they will do and what we are already starting to do is to ensure that due process is followed,” the official said in a press conference.

In this regard, he emphasized “that (the corresponding authorities in the United States) notify us, as established by international conventions, to our consulates when they detain any person, regardless of their immigration status.”

He stressed the importance of keeping all this enormous diversity of laws up to date, for which an observatory was launched that permanently incorporates the changes made to state legislation in this area.

As part of the actions, he also referred to a program that he described as fundamental: Know and exercise your rights, aimed at promoting prevention and rapid response to detentions, raids and other intimidating actions.

“In any case, for there to be a deportation, there must be an order from a judge that indicates this and that is where we will be very attentive to ensure that due process is followed,” he said.

In addition, each consulate has a local action plan, given the existence of a legal framework for each entity, and each of them has built a community support network with the participation of churches, universities, migrant organizations, among others.

ef/lam/las