Mexico is launching a new initiative to help migrants alert local consulates if they believe they are about to be detained in the United States.
The country is developing a mobile app called “Alert Button,” which, in addition to alerting consulates, will also allow Mexican nationals who fear imminent detention to notify pre-selected family members and report the situation to its secretary of foreign affairs, Juan Ramón de la Fuente, ABC News reported.
De la Fuente announced the app is intended for “emergency cases” and is expected to be available in January 2025, coinciding with the beginning of President-elect Donald Trump’s administration.
The secretary also outlined additional protective measures, emphasizing that to deport someone from the U.S., “you need a court order, a final sentence of deportation or removal, and that is where the consular team will be very aware that due process is complied with,” according to ABC.
Trump has repeatedly pledged to launch mass deportations of unauthorized migrants living in the U.S. starting on the first day of his second term, which is on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2025.
He has appointed former border patrol agent Tom Homan as the “border czar.” Homan served as the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during Trump’s first term, leading the agency during the administration’s “Zero Tolerance” policy, which faced widespread criticism for separating families, according to NBC News.
Homan has outlined Trump’s plan for mass deportations, saying the initial focus would be on expelling criminals and public and national security threats.
“There’s thousands of gang members, illegal alien gang members we’re going to be looking for,” Homan said in an interview on Fox News’ “Hannity” program on Nov. 11, per NBC. “Now, I’m going to say if you’re in the country illegally, you shouldn’t feel comfortable, absolutely not. I won’t feel comfortable.”
In a Nov. 20 interview on Fox’s “Ingraham Angle,” he said, “We have ways of finding people. I’m not going to explain it here on national TV because of law enforcement sensitivity, but we will find many of these folks. They will be arrested, they’ll be detained, and they will be removed.”
As of July 2023, an estimated 11.7 million unauthorized migrants were living in the U.S. without legal immigration status, according to the Center for Migration Studies. Approximately 4.6 million of those were from Mexico, representing the largest group of unauthorized immigrants.
The remaining migrants come from various regions, mostly Central America and South America but also the Caribbean and Asia.
