In less than a month, Donald Trump will be inaugurated as president, and on day one he has vowed to pursue the largest deportation in history, prompting a response from the Mexican government.
On Friday, the country's Secretary of Foreign Affairs Juan Ramón de la Fuente said Mexico will defend the human rights of its citizens in accordance with international law and highlighted a new cellphone app to help migrants who fear they might be getting detained.
The app, which will go live in January, will allow migrants to inform family members and alert the nearest local consulate if they think they’re about to be detained.
"I'm glad that the Mexican government is taking this measurement, it's really a prevention, it's really a way of having communication and making this network, we have to have these networks that include our government for protection,” said Karina Ruiz, who made history this year becoming the first migrant and dreamer to serve in the Mexican Senate.
Ruiz, who came across the southern border when she was just 15 years old with her parents, said this cellphone app will help ensure migrant's rights aren’t violated.
"I think that's also another one of the reasons why the Mexican government is doing this app because that way the consulate will get notified, and that way we can get assistance, legal assistance, to these people that otherwise would have to wait, sometimes even months in detention before they can get some legal assistance and help in their case,” Ruiz told ABC15.
Valeria Alvarado came to the U.S. when she was five years old and is a DACA recipient. She is concerned about her fate under the incoming Trump administration.
"It's really scary, not just for me as a dreamer, but for our neighbors, or maybe people we know from our church that don't have that legal stay here, my mom and all my other siblings do," Alvarado said.
She said she plans to download the app and let others in her community know about it.
"I think it will be a really good idea so they could, you know, see what's going on, and if anything happens to one of their family members, they're informed,” Alvarado told ABC15.
Trump has called for a bipartisan deal to protect dreamers when he takes office, and Ruiz is hopeful he comes through on that commitment and no one will have to use the app.
"I think he's understanding, he's a businessman, and he understands very well that dreamers contribute, that we are not a burden on the country,” Ruiz said. "I hope, like I said, that he realizes that about the rest of the immigrants.”
