The Mexican government is developing a cellphone app for its citizens to use if they are in the United States and believe they are about to be detained by federal immigration authorities.
The app will allow Mexican nationals to press a tab that sends an alert notification to previously chosen relatives and the nearest consulate when they suspect they are about to be apprehended by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, Mexican Foreign Minister Juan Ramon de la Fuente said at a news conference Friday alongside President Claudia Sheinbaum. The announcement is the latest by the Mexican government as it braces for President-elect Donald Trump’s promise of a wide-scale deportation operation come January.
“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,” de la Fuente said of the project, according to the Associated Press.
He added that the app has already been tested on a small-scale and “appears to be working very well.” Government officials anticipate a full release by January, just in time for Trump’s return to the White House.
Along with plans to resume construction of the U.S-Mexico border wall, a relaunch of the Remain in Mexico program, and slapping Mexican imports with sweeping tariffs unless their government does more to stop the flow of illegal immigration, the incoming Trump administration has also vowed to launch the largest deportation program ever conducted in U.S. history. The ambitious agenda has sparked tension with Sheinbaum, an ideological leftist who is viewed as more sympathetic to the plight of illegal migrants.
As the number one source of illegal immigration into the U.S. and as the only country to share its southern border, Mexico naturally plays an outsized role in American immigration policy.
Mexicans nationals make up the largest portion of all immigrants living in the U.S. by far, according to the Migration Policy Institute. As of 2023, they accounted for roughly 23% of the 47.8 million foreign-born individuals living in the country. They also make up nearly half of the roughly 11 million illegal migrants currently residing in the U.S.
In response to Trump’s threat to impose 25% tariffs on Mexican imports unless the country did more to stop illegal immigration and the flow of drugs into the U.S., Sheinbaum penned a public letter that warned the president-elect of a “response in kind” if he were to move forward with the threat. It appears that talks of a tariff war have already created headaches for the Mexican market, with a number of manufacturers declaring that they are reconsidering investments into the country until they get more clarification on the situation.
However, Sheinbaum has also signaled she is willing to play ball, with the Mexican president declaring in November that her country is prepared to accept what is expected to be a massive number of Mexican nationals once Trump executes his deportation agenda.
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