The Mexican government will be spending $50 million to help Mexican citizens, who are in the United State without documents, to avoid being deported back to Mexico.
This effort is in response to what they believe will be a crackdown by the Donald Trump administration on illegal immigration.
Many in the Latino community are wondering where this help was as Obama was deporting 3 million immigrants during his eight years in office.
This long overdue help for illegal immigrants in assisting them in becoming United States citizens is a great step towards easing the illegal immigration issue. Hopefully this will give more undocumented Latinos a peace of mind knowing that there is help for them if they require it. The Associated Press reports:
Mexican consulates are forming partnerships with law schools, immigration clinics and nonprofit groups that litigate on behalf of immigrants. The centers are staffed with Mexican lawyers who can refer cases to organizations or clinics. They are also reaching out to private law firms interested in taking on pro-bono work.
There has been an increased demand in requests for Mexican birth certificates since President Trump began signing several executive orders that are aimed at combating the illegal immigration issue. Many illegal immigrants are gathering up their documents and essentially preparing in case they are deported.
This constant fear of being deported is greatly heightened if they have children that were born in the United States. Divina Ciriaco, a 45-year-old illegal immigrant who works as a housekeeper and has three U.S. born children, perfectly summarized the fear of being deported with her following statement:
We live in fear of going back to Mexico, to the violence, the poverty we suffered.