So what do you do if you're the Mexican Ambassador to the United States and are faced with a crisis whereby millions of your citizens have broken numerous federal laws of your host country by illegally immigrating without going through the proper channels? Well, you simply offer up creative new ways to "game the system" to avoid deportation, like submitting an application for citizenship. While you may have zero chance of actually being granted citizenship, at least you'll "no longer [be] subject to the deportation processes." And, as an added bonus, you won't "lose Mexican citizenship" either.
Per The Hill, the ambassador has even expanded the hours of Mexican consulates in the United States to "better provide information and assistance" ahead of Trump taking office on January 20th.
Ambassador Carlos Sada Solana told Mexican state news agency Notimex Tuesday that applying for citizenship could be an important defense against deportation and other actions if Trump changes U.S. immigration policies.
"It's one of the very important protection actions to become citizens, because then they're no longer subject to deportation processes and on the other hand, they don't lose Mexican citizenship," he told Notimex.
Sada said Mexican consulates will expand their service hours to better provide information and assistance to their citizens amid concerns about how citizenship policies may change after Jan. 20.
“The best we can do is inform ourselves and be conscious about our situation, and to know that in the consulates we have personnel that is dedicated specifically to the subject of protection," he said.
Of course, to be eligible for citizenship, lawful permanent residents must be over 18, have resided permanently in the country and meet certain personal qualifications, like being of good moral character, having knowledge of U.S. history and speaking English. We suspect the whole "lawful residency" issue will trip up many of the Ambassador's applicants.
Sada said the problem was that many immigrants with legal status and eligibility for citizenship choose not to apply. The top reasons he cited were not considering U.S. citizenship important or necessary, plans to leave the U.S., not speaking English and a lack of information about the process.
According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), there are around 2.6 million Mexican lawful permanent residents (LPR) in the United States who are eligible for citizenship, but who haven't yet applied.
Meanwhile, Solana recently launched a "#Mexico is not the enemy" speaking tour in Arizona...
We were honored to meet with Carlos Manuel Sada Solana, Mexico's ambassador to the US. "#Mexico is not the enemy." https://t.co/ZJ3njC1Bug pic.twitter.com/n7zI7NdGTc
— Global Chamber® (@GlobalChamber) December 1, 2016
...which included an interview with the USA Today in which he vowed, once again, that Mexico would not be paying for a border wall.
Mexico's top diplomat to the U.S. says there is no way Mexico will pay for the wall. Not only that, a wall would send a "negative" message that would undermine years of economic and diplomatic cooperation between the two countries that contrary to public perception has benefited both countries.
That cross-border relationship includes the creation of more than 100,000 jobs in Arizona.
"We have said time and again Mexico is not paying for the wall," Carlos Manuel Sada Solana, Mexico's ambassador to the U.S., said Wednesday during a meeting with reporters and editors at The Arizona Republic, azcentral.com and La Voz.
"That is something that has been said several times by the president of Mexico, the secretary of foreign affairs, secretary of economy, the secretary of finance," he continued. "So we are not paying for the wall."
http://www.usatoday.com/videos/embed/94700204/
Well, this guy should go over well with the Trump administration.