Mexico moves to recognize Dreamers’ US education
The Mexican Senate will discuss a bill Monday to help people deported from the U.S. to Mexico cut through red tape to get their American educational degrees recognized in the country.
Mexicans who study abroad often have trouble validating American degrees at home.
Senators will discuss proposed changes to the measure originally introduced by President Enrique Peña Nieto, reported Reforma newspaper.
The move is especially relevant for so-called “Dreamers” — recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. To qualify for DACA, undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children have to prove they are either in school or have completed at least high school.
{mosads}Although President Trump’s immigration orders and subsequent Department of Homeland Security implementation memos explicitly kept DACA in place, the administration has sent signals the program’s days could be numbered.
Dreamers with an American education could be competitive in the Mexican labor market, where English language skills are relatively scarce but often necessary.
Under the measure being discussed, an emergency plan would be put in place to help “people in vulnerable situations” prove their educational achievement despite a lack of access to the necessary paperwork.
The bill is directed at people “who confront situations of vulnerability because of the specific circumstances of … their migratory situation,” read the bill, as quoted by Reforma.
Deportees are often sent to cities they are not familiar with, carrying only basic identification.
Under the proposed law, public institutions will be allowed to validate foreign degrees and transcripts, something previously only allowed to private schools and specific public universities.
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