Las Vegas Review-Journal

Mexico takes steps to ease return of young immigrants

- By Amy Taxin The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — Mexico’s top diplomat on Tuesday said his country is taking steps to ease the return of young immigrants whose deportatio­n protection is being rescinded by the Trump administra­tion, but he also acknowledg­ed they would prefer to stay in the United States.

On a visit to Los Angeles, Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Videgaray said his government is making it easier to transfer education credits and is extending a loan program for young entreprene­urs.

He said Mexico also created a job bank with the immigrants in mind after President Donald Trump announced his decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program that allows them to work in the United States.

Mexico will also provide legal assistance to immigrants and lobby U.S. lawmakers to draft a plan for the immigrants brought to the United States as children — often referred to as “Dreamers” — to obtain legal status.

“With each ‘Dreamer’ who returns to Mexico, Mexico wins,” Videgaray said at the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles. But, he added, “What is relevant is not which country wins here. What is relevant here is what the ‘Dreamers’ want.”

The Trump administra­tion’s decision to phase out the program dealt an especially harsh blow to the Mexican community in the United States because about three-quarters of the 800,000 immigrants protected by the Obama-era program are Mexican.

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Luis Videgaray

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