Mexico develops app for migrants to send alerts if they are about to be detained in the US

On By Littum

Mexico is developing a cellphone app that will allow migrants to inform family members and local consulates if they believe they are being detained in the United States, the country’s foreign minister announced Friday.

The app is expected to be available in January, when President-elect Donald Trump, who has vowed to launch mass deportations of migrants living in the US without legal permission on Day 1 of his second term, takes office.

The app — called the Alert Button — will allow nationals who believe they are being detained to notify “the consulate closest to their location of impending detention situations, notify family members previously selected, as well as report to the Secretary of State, ” says Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a press release.

PHOTO: Migrants seeking asylum in the United States gather near the border wall, as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, December 19, 2024.

Migrants seeking asylum in the United States gather near the border wall after crossing a razor wire fence set up to prevent their passage into the United States, as a member of the Texas National Guard escorts them, as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, 19 December. , 2024.

Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters

The app was developed with Mexico’s Digital Transformation Agency for “emergencies,” said Juan Ramón de la Fuente, Mexico’s foreign minister.

De la Fuente outlined other safeguards ahead of the possible detention of Mexican nationals under the incoming Trump administration.

“The Secretary of State emphatically pointed out that in order to deport someone from the United States, you must have a court order, a final judgment of deportation or removal, and this is where the consular team will be very careful that due process is observed,” the release said.

Trump has repeatedly promised to begin mass deportations as soon as he takes office.

PHOTO: Juan Ramon de la Fuente, coordinator of the Dialogues for Transformation speaks below "Dialogue: Education, Science and Technology" educational project in Mexico City, April 30, 2024.

Juan Ramon de la Fuente, coordinator of the Dialogues for Transformation speaks during the educational project “Dialogue: Education, Science and Technology” in Mexico City, on April 30, 2024.

Luis Barron/Eyepix Group/LightRocket via Getty Images

He has tapped several immigration hardliners to serve in key Cabinet positions, including former acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement director Tom Homan as “border czar.”

Homan previously discussed his vision for mass deportations, saying they would first concentrate on deporting criminals and threats to national security. He did not rule out deporting families together.

An estimated 11.7 million unauthorized migrants live in the United States without legal immigration status, including about 4.6 million from Mexico, in July 2023, according to Center for Migration Studies.