Migrants may soon be traveling with a “panic button” thanks to an app Mexico is developing that will allow migrants to alert relatives and local consulates if they believe they are about to be detained by U.S. immigration authorities. AP News reports, the app has already been through small-scale testing and is said to be “working very well.”
Juan Ramón de la Fuente, Mexico’s secretary of foreign affairs, explained that the app allows users to press a tab that sends an alert to previously selected relatives and the nearest Mexican consulate.
Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum recently praised migrants who left Mexico for the United States reportedly calling them “heroes” in part for sending $63 million back home to relatives last year, according to AP News.
“While about 11 million Mexicans live in the United States — including about 5 million without proper documents — many had to flee Mexico because of violence or lack of opportunities, and it remains unclear how loyal or closely tied they remain to the government,” AP News reported.
The development appears to be part of Mexico’s response to the incoming Trump administration’s plan for deportations that would go into effect in January.
President-elect Donald Trump’s new border enforcer Tom Homan has vowed to rid America of criminal illegal immigrants who are threatening the safety and well-being of Americans across the country. At the top of his list is also rescuing the more than 300,000 children whose whereabouts have been unknown since the government has lost contact with them and their guardians. Homan expects that, while not all, many children may be in the custody of criminal organizations including those involved in forced labor and human trafficking.
While the goal is to target criminal illegal immigrants, sanctuary cities are still posing a challenge to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to handle such cases. Recently, in the sanctuary city of New York, authorities have refused to cooperate with ICE regarding the illegal immigrant accused of murdering a woman on a Brooklyn subway in a torturous death. Sebastian Zapeta, from Guatemala, is accused of lighting a woman on fire, setting her ablaze while she was sleeping on the subway. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene.
According to Fox News, “Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) told Fox News that it has lodged an immigration detainer with the New York City Department of Corrections for Zapeta, but the corrections department has indicated it will not honor the detainer, per its current policy. An immigration detainer is a request by ICE to take a person into its custody.”
