Mexico to Provide Services to Ease Transition of ‘Dreamers’

Mexico has pledged to help undocumented immigrant youth living in the United States transition to life in the Latin American country in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program, known as DACA. 

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The Mexican government will create programs that provide mental health services, offer financial aid and facilitate the transfer of education credits, according to Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Videgaray.

Officials also plan to create a job recruitment program for recent arrivals.

Videgaray announced the measures at the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles, California on Tuesday, outlining his country’s intention to support the wave of former U.S. residents who will be forced to return to Mexico.

“With each ‘dreamer’ who returns to Mexico, Mexico wins,” Videgaray said.

“What is relevant is not which country wins here. What is relevant here is what the ‘dreamers’ want.”

Nearly 800,000 immigrant youths brought to the United States by their undocumented parents, known as “Dreamers,” gained partial protections through DACA. The program, created by former President Barack Obama, allowed them to attend school and work in the country. 

Now, the Trump administration has pressed to phase out the program by allowing current permits to expire and only issuing new permit requests on a case-by-case basis. The program is expected to be stalled for six months in order to give Congress time to weigh in.

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The University of California — which stands to lose as many as 4,000 of its students as well as teachers, researchers and health care providers — is suing the Trump administration over the repeal of DACA, saying it violates their rights on “nothing more than unreasoned executive whim.”

The lawsuit was filed on Friday and is the first legal effort by a university to block the decision.

As many as 983 undocumented people currently covered under DACA will lose their protected status every day following the six-month congressional delay, according to a CNN analysis of the Department of Homeland Security data.

Nearly 30,000 people a month are slated to lose their legal status.