New Campaign Strives to Protect the Rights of Mexican Citizens in the US James Barragan - Statesman
go to original January 17, 2016

Earlier this month, during the annual meeting of Mexico’s foreign ambassadors and consuls in Mexico City, the country announced a new campaign to push Mexican citizens legally residing in the United States to obtain dual citizenship.

The initiative is aimed at the 3 million Mexicans living in the country who are eligible for -but have not applied for – dual citizenship, according to Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs. In Texas, about 600,000 Mexicans would qualify for the program, according to Carlos González Gutiérrez, consul general of Mexico in Austin.

So, what does the initiative mean and what are the benefits of dual citizenship for Mexico, the United States and the individual applying for it? Somos Austin spoke to Doris Meissner, a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute and its director of U.S. immigration policy program, who helped break this down.

The new initiative, Meissner said, is a long-term strategy by Mexico to protect the rights of its citizens in the United States.

“Mexico wants to encourage Mexican nationals to go ahead and take citizenship because that’s the maximum protection,” Meissner said. “Once they become citizens, those people are part of this country and not vulnerable to the possibility of deportation. They also are able to petition for family members to come to the U.S. through the legal immigration system.”

Read the rest at Statesman

Related: Mexican Passports Issued in the US (The News)

Photo: Ralph Barrera/American-Statesman

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