Although officials from the Donald Trump administration stress that new immigration enforcement policies in the United States will not translate into “mass deportations” of undocumented citizens, various institutions in the state of Jalisco are making preparations for a large influx of migrants.
Delivering his annual report this week, Universidad de Guadalajara (UdG) Rector Tonatiuh Bravo Padilla presented a proposal for an “emergency program” to allocate spaces for Mexican students deported from U.S. universities and high schools because of their immigration situations. Around 75 percent of the 750,000 young immigrants known as “Dreamers” who were protected from deportation by Barack Obama are from Mexico, Bravo Padilla noted. While Trump has promised not to target these young people at the current time, their legal status remains in limbo and could change at any moment given the political climate in Washington.
Bravo Padilla said the UdG will offer its full support to the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU), a U.S organization that is defending the Dreamers and is “deeply concerned” about Trump’s executive orders on immigration.
Bravo Padilla said the vast majority of Dreamers have been educated in the U.S. school system and their only “sin” was to have been taken to the United States as children.
Attending the rector’s annual report this week, Jalisco Governor Aristoteles Sandoval said the “doors will be open” to all returning students who may be pleasantly surprised to discover that Jalisco has developed significantly over the past two decades.
Meanwhile, Jalisco Labor Secretary Hector Pizano said the state government was exploring ways to help deported migrants find work. He stressed that many new work opportunities are available, noting that 11,000 new jobs were created in January in the state.