Weeks before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, his plans for mass deportations of illegal aliens are getting more resistance from south of the border. Mexico is launching an app that will allow migrants in the U.S. to alert family or a Mexican consulate if they are about to be detained or deported. In announcing the app, a Mexican official said they plan to ensure that every Mexican citizen in the U.S. gets full due process before being deported.
This latest move by Mexico signals the bumpy relationship likely ahead between the Trump administration and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum when it comes to border security. Trump has already threatened tariffs on imported Mexican goods if the country does not help crack down on illegal border crossings, to which Sheinbaum signaled they may push back with tariffs of their own. Trump has also vowed to restore the Remain in Mexico policy from his first term, which requires illegal border crossers to stay in Mexico while awaiting their legal hearing rather than be released into the U.S.
For the Trump administration, this means Mexico is going to be a 'frienemy' on the issue of immigration. "We certainly need that cooperation from Mexico, especially when it comes to restarting Remain in Mexico," says Victor Avila, retired ICE special agent. "But all indications to this point are really them pushing back...they say one thing to Trump but then actually do something different."
Avila tells KTRH that Mexico seems willing to cooperate on some aspects of border security, but is not on board with the mass deportations. "They want to do anything and everything possible to try to slow down the process, to bog down the system, in order to delay it and to make it harder on the Trump administration to do this," he says.
"Ultimately I think Remain in Mexico is going to get done, but it seems to be with some pushback from Mexico."
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