Mexican citizens in the US are being encouraged to apply for US citizenship by the Mexican ambassador to the US to protect themselves from possible changes to immigration law in the country under the new Trump administration, which takes office next month.
On Tuesday, Ambassador Carlos Sada Solana told Notimex, the Mexican state news agency, that putting in an application for US citizenship would be a crucial defense against the possibility of deportation and other changes to immigration law that could happen under a Trump Presidency. Solana noted that the gaining of US citizenship means Mexican immigrants would no longer be subject to the process of deportation while still also retaining Mexican citizenship.
Solana says the big problem is that there are many immigrants who have legal status and are already eligible to gain citizenship yet have never applied for a variety of reasons, such as not being able to speak English, having no plans to leave the US, or not understanding the process and believing it to be unnecessary and unimportant. The Department of Homeland Security estimates there are almost 2.6 million Mexicans in the US who are lawful permanent residents who have not yet applied for citizenship, despite being eligible to do so.
Solana announced that Mexican consulates are to start expanding their hours of service to be better able to provide help and information to Mexican immigrants.