This story was updated to reflect the app’s expansion to Apple platforms.
Mexico has launched a new app that will provide Mexican Nationals with information about their legal rights and what to do in emergencies if they are facing deportation or detention.
The ConsulApp Contigo, which is available on Apple and Android platforms right now, features a button for users to alert their emergency contacts and consulate officials if they’re facing detention. Users can also use the app to schedule an appointment to seek passport services and find the closest consulate.
“(It is a) comprehensive care tool for Mexican migrants in vulnerable situations, providing quick and safe access to care services, location of consular care offices, relevant information on legal rights and procedures, in order to bring SRE services closer to people in vulnerable immigration situations, strengthening their protection against possible mass deportations and guaranteeing their integrity,” the Google Play App Store reads.
Rafael Barceló Durazo, the head of Tucson’s Mexican Consulate, says the app comes at a time when calls from Mexican Nationals are flooding their call center–the only 24/7 call center that is in a Mexican Consulate in the United States.
“The app is making easier the access to communicate with the consulates anytime but particularly now that so many people are concerned about what it's going to mean all the migratory changes that the new administration has announced,” he said.
Just on Monday, the Center for Information and Assistance for Mexicans (CIAM) received over 1,500 calls. Many of the phone calls were about what to do with mixed-status families, where some family members may have legal status and others may not.
“It’s very very important for the people to understand that, regardless of their immigration status, they do have constitutional rights,” Barceló Durazo said. “The U.S. Constitution has so many rights and it's important for the people to know that because in that way they can exercise those rights.”
The new app was announced on the same day that CBP One–a government-run app for asylum seekers–shut down. Existing appointments for migrants to seek a legal pathway into the United States were then immediately canceled.
In an announcement on Monday, Mexico’s government also expanded services in its 53 U.S.-based consulates to meet growing needs, which includes “when necessary, protect and defend Mexican nationals regardless of their immigration status or location within the United States.”
