11 million undocumented immigrants live in the United States, about half of them from Mexico. Now the Mexican government is offering legal help to citizens who fear arrest and deportation under a new U.S. administration.
 

Mexico is opening legal aid centers at consulates throughout the United States to help citizens who worry they might be arrested and sent home.
“We will give them the emotional and psychological support that they need,” says Marcela Celorio, Mexico’s consul general in San Diego, California. “We have attorneys. We will give them legal advice.”
Thousands of Mexican immigrants are visiting consulates in the U.S. out of concern about increased immigration enforcement that began with the Trump Administration.
“They are afraid of the separation of families,” Celorio says. “That’s the main concern.”
Legal aid center staff inform the immigrants about their rights under the U.S. Constitution. For example, they are not required to answer questions from law officers, they do not have to sign deportation papers, and they can demand a court hearing.