Mexico plans to give its citizens a phone app with a “panic button” to alert nearby consulates and kin back home if they’ve been detained by ICE during a potential Trump mass deportation.
The app is currently in its testing phase, but the Mexican government is expected to roll it out come January, said Mexico Foreign Affairs Secretary Juan Ramón de la Fuente at a recent press conference.
“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,” he said.
As President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration day looms, the Mexican government said it also has set up a 24-hour call center to answer migrants’ questions.
“[Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum] has also instructed us to focus on direct community engagement, which we have already begun,” de la Fuente said. “I have personally attended several open meetings where the key message is to tell our fellow citizens that they are not alone and will not be alone.”
Trump tapped former acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Tom Homan to lead his historic deportation plan, which will initially focus on illegal migrants with criminal histories and final deportation orders.
There are an estimated 4.8 million Mexican migrants who are in the US illegally, according to de la Fuente.
Homan has said his goal is to make space to hold 100,000 detainees at a time in ICE detention.
In anticipation of the effort, Mexico also has already set up shelters along its northern border with the US to receive deported migrants — but only the ones with Mexican citizenship.
Last month, Trump claimed Sheinbaum vowed to help him “stop migration” through her country to the US.
“Just had a wonderful conversation with the new President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“She has agreed to stop Migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border,” he said.
But Sheinbaum recalled a different account of the conversation.
“In our conversation with President Trump, I explained to him the comprehensive strategy that Mexico has followed to address the migration phenomenon, respecting human rights,” she wrote on X.
“Thanks to this, migrants and caravans are assisted before they reach the border. We reiterate that Mexico’s position is not to close borders but to build bridges between governments and between peoples.”