Plan to cancel DACA puts Mexico on alert

They are native sons and daughters who left Mexico at a young age, grew up in the United States, and now face the possibility of a forced return to a country most can barely – if at all – remember.

Hundreds of thousands of these young and undocumented Mexican immigrants are now struggling with an uncertain future. Questions about their fate have also loomed large in Mexico in recent days, forcing a closer look at how the country receives U.S. deportees.

Last Tuesday, the Trump administration’s announced that it is canceling the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. While neither a path to U.S. citizenship nor to permanent resident status, the DACA program since 2012 has allowed participants to study, work and live in the United States without fear of deportation. With that protection being lifted, Congress has been given six months to find a solution.

Across Mexico, the news of DACA’s cancellation for many has cut to the quick. President Enrique Pena Nieto said, “Mexico will receive these young people who return with open arms.” The Foreign Ministry issued a statement expressing “profound regret” at DACA’s cancellation.

Critics say Mexico is not prepared to receive any such deportees and has had a poor track record with deportees in general. “Mexico continues to be not ready,” said Nancy Landa, a deportee in Tijuana whose firm, Mundo Translated, conducts research on immigration issues. “You still see that there’s not enough help, not enough resources, not enough support in the whole return process.”

Tijuana, one of the main “repatriation” points on the U.S. border, has been receiving an average of 85 deportees a day through July of this year – compared with an average of 106 a day last year, according to Mexican government figures. After Trump’s announcement on DACA, Tijuana’s Coalition for the Defense of Migrants has raised pointed questions about the ability of local, state and federal authorities in Mexico to assist these new arrivals.

“Are you ready to provide the necessary support?” the group asked in a written statement. “What support programs are you contemplating? Is there a plan? Is there a public policy in this regard?”

The private university CETYS issued a statement expressing solidarity with the dreamers, and announced that it is “analyzing possible financial aid” for those who quality.

The DACA beneficiaries “are getting a response that I haven’t seen in Mexico for many decades,” said Rafael Fernandez de Castro, director of the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies at University of California, San Diego. “The feeling in Mexico is that this is sad, it is against the U.S. soul, the U.S. has been very welcoming of immigrants.”

But Fernandez also cautioned against raising excessive expectations of assistance in Mexico. “The government should not promise what it cannot accomplish,” he said. “They have promised a lot to Mexican-Americans, to Mexicans here, and often they don’t deliver.”

Any move to deport the 800,000 young undocumented immigrants who have benefited from DACA would be overwhelming for Mexico. Close to 618,000 of the beneficiaries are Mexican-born, and many deportees who are already in Mexico say it has not been an easy experience.

“It’s more than a struggle, it’s a complete change of life,” said Robert Vivar, 61, a longtime resident of Riverside County, Calif., who now lives near the U.S. border fence in Playas de Tijuana, separated from his two children and six grandchildren. Vivar was brought to the United States at age 6, and deported 4 1/2 years ago. He supports himself working at a call center with many fellow deportees, and volunteers with a group that orients deported veterans.

For younger deportees trying to continue their schooling in Mexico, “it’s not impossible, but it’s obstacle after obstacle.” Vivar said. Getting Mexican institutions to recognize U.S. educational credentials has been difficult, he said. While some improvements have been made, “we know kids who go to apply who get met with all kinds of obstacles,” Vivar said.

The day after the announcement of DACA’s cancellation, the Mexican government announced the creation of a job bank geared to people deported from the U.S. It promised to streamline the process of transferring U.S. university credits to Mexican higher education institutions.

But Luis Videgaray, the country’s foreign minister, said the “most important objective” will be diplomatic efforts with Congress who are now considering the future of the DACA beneficiaries. Videgaray said that the goal aim is to “give legal certainty to these young people” that would allow them to study and work in the United States.