Monterrey, NL.- Children born in the United States living in Mexico are of high priority for the US Consulate in Monterrey, authorities said so Consulate at the annual meeting of the National Coordination State Office of Attention to Migrants ( CONOFAM ) held in Monterrey on August 12.
These children were born in the United States to Mexican parents who returned to Mexico without properly documenting the Mexican citizenship and / or American child before leaving the United States. As a result, they face challenges to enroll in school and to receive basic public health benefits on their return to Mexico.
For the Consulate, this migrant population is very vulnerable infants and faces significant challenges. All children are entitled to have two citizenships, American and Mexican and should be able to exercise their rights in both countries.
Around 600,000 children born in the United States reside in Mexico, many without proper documentation to live legally in the country. According to the Ministry of Public Education (SEP), there are approximately 30.178 Americans undocumented children in the Mexican states of Coahuila (353), Durango (7,119), Nuevo Leon (1,005), San Luis Potosi (9,101) and Zacatecas (12,600) .
Challenges facing migrant children
Despite constitutional guarantees to education for all children in Mexico, in practice many migrant children born in the US are not admitted in the school, or the admission is conditional ruling out the possibility of taking higher levels. Without access to education, the future of these children is uncertain and this represents a great loss to both countries.
In addition to the looming problem of access to education, it is important that these children are registered as Mexican citizens (dual nationality). Similarly, it is extremely important to be properly documented with passports from the United States as soon as possible. For more information on the processing of US passports at the US Consulate in Monterrey: http://spanish.monterrey.usconsulate.gov/pptinfospanish.html
Myths about citizenship
The Consulate said that often, infants are not recorded, either as Mexicans or Americans, because of fear of losing citizenship or rights of the country where they reside at the time and this is wrong because Mexico and the United States allow dual nationality without sacrificing any.
They also talked about the fears of some parents to register their children as the irregular immigration status of the parents may affect the registration of the child. For the Consulate, it is only important to the citizenship of the child and does not question or review the history of the parents or their immigration process when the infant US passport situation.
Topics presented at the conference
At the Consulate, other issues such as consular services provided by the US Consulate in Monterrey for US citizens, the requirements of the process of US passports for minors, the right way of filling the passport and the necessary paperwork addressed this theme focused on CONOFAM participants who support American families with migrant children. He also spoke about immigration and US citizenship with family request information and / or employment petition for permanent residency in the US. Another issue discussed was the process tourist visas and visa H of seasonal agricultural work, and the issue of how to avoid becoming a victim of fraud in dealing with American passports and visas.
CONOFAM
The National Coordination Office for Migrants groups the offices of the state governments responsible for programs serving Mexican nationals on immigration status. They aim to build and strengthen bridges of cooperation for the protection of migrants in and out of Mexico, and to promote the development of their families in their communities of origin and destination
