We begin with President Donald Trump's campaign promise of mass deportations, with Mexico being the most common country of birth among unauthorized immigrants in the U.S., President Trump's pledge has consulates of Mexico across the country on high alert.

And that includes right here in Las Vegas.

And joining me to discuss her work in the face of these possible mass deportations is Patricia Cortez, Guatemala, the consul of Mexico in Las Vegas.

I said, Patricia, but I should have said Patricia, Patricia, Patricia is fine.

Okay.

Welcome to Nevada.

Thank you.

You have a lot of responsibiliti..

But in relation to this topic of potential mass deportations, as I understand it, your responsibilities include preparing the Mexican citizens in Nevada for potential raids and also making sure that if a raid happens, their rights are not violated.

How well aware do you think the general public is that Mexican citizens have rights here in the U.S.?

Yes.

Well, that is a big part of what we're doing now.

We are not as yet facing, mass deportations or anything of that sort.

But it is important for the Mexican community and the Hispanic community at large to know that they do have rights and that they can prepare, their personal, situation in case they need to go back.

So, we are working with the community at large, and we have also, a broad range of partners, that help us to do just that, to help them prepare.

One action that you are taking, along with other organizations is to hold these know your Rights town halls.

And at those, what are the rights that you are telling people in the event of a raid?

This is what you should say.

These are the rights that you should exercise.

One of the very important things that we stress is, and we underline is that they should be, they should be listening to real and official sources of information because we are very prone to listen to well or say my neighbor is cousin's girlfriend said such and such are my aunt.

But these are not necessarily real sources of information.

So what we do is we partner up with organizations that, can give them official information.

And like you said in this stance, let them be prepared and let them know what they should do in case somebody knocks on their door, for instance, again, this is not happening yet.

The only thing that we have seen is, people who have already an administrative, deportation order, or a criminal record.

Those people are the ones that, you know, are might be, deported.

But other than that, we haven't seen anything yet.

And I know you keep stressing that this has not happened.

And why are you doing that?

I think it's because there is an elevated level of fear.

Exactly.

That's what you're seeing.

Yes, exactly.

We see, families and people in general being fearful.

And, when fear is in place, then we tend not to act as we should.

You know, there is no reason right now to be extremely fearful.

There is an opportunity, I find, to organize our personal, informational personal effects, for instance, well, if you have bank accounts, people com.. so if I own a house or if I have a car, or have a bank account, how can I, how what happens if I have to go back for, for whatever reason, we help them out with that.

Or, for instance, there are some children who are, able to have dual citizenship, and we invite them to come to the consulate and get that done as well.

It's way easier for for families to have, dual citizenship to, to make decisions.

Right?

..

I would say decisions.

Yeah.

So the Pew Research Center estimates that there are 190,000 unauthorized immigrants in Nevada, making up nearly 6% of the state's population and nearly 9% of the state's workforce for that term.

Unauthorized immigrant to people who would ask, why do you not say illegal immigrant?

How would you respond?

Well, we don't use the term illegal.

We don't believe anybody is illegal.

We use undocumented because they don't have the correct documentation.

But we believe that every person is legal.

You can't, in our view, call someone illegal.

Okay.

To those who say if you are here illegally .. you should be deported, what would you say?

I'd say there's a misunderstanding.

Generally of, the undocumented population.

As you well stated, the undocumented population in Nevada itself is around 9% of the workforce, which means also that they do contribute with taxes, both state and federal taxes.

People usually do not know this, and they believe that they receive benefits, and don't pay taxes.

That is actually the opposite.

They do, pay the actually around 2022, I believe it was more or less $500 million that they contributed to a through, state and federal taxes and they don't receive benefits at all.

Okay.

I want to ask about your communication with law enforcement.

Who have you been talking to with in Nevada and what are you asking them?

Well, we're reaching out to all authorities with, talks to the attorney general.

We've talked to sheriffs, Metro Sheriff Henderson.

Sheriff, we just had a conversation with Carson City sheriff as well.

So, my jurisdiction is the whole of Nevada.

So we've we've spoken to, all the authorities and, they have been very clear that, they their job is to make sure that t.. and that they feel, trust, in order to.

And in case this, they are, they've been victims of crime or they have seen something that they can come out and report it, regardless of their immigration status.

They do not ask for their immigration status.

And that is what Clark County Sheriff Kevin Hill has said, is that Metro will not enforce immigration violations, but that they will notify Ice if a foreign born individual is arrested and charged with a violent felony, domestic violence, driving under the influence and now burglary, theft, larceny and or assault of a law enforcement officer, as well because of the Lincoln Riley Act.

Have you spoken with any law enforcement in the state who says no?

We do plan to enforce federal immigration.

No.

As of now, no.

Again, we've we've we've spoken to and we have officers from both Metro and Henderson police come to the consulate to talk to the people and just receive questions from them.

And again, letting them know that, they will not ask for their immigration status and they're there to keep them safe.

Now, the Clark County School District also released a statement saying, in part, that the district does not check any student's immigration status and is not responsible for enforcing federal immigration law.

Despite this, we have heard from a local teacher who says parents of her students have come to her asking, should we be sending our kids to school?

Is ice going to come for them?

Yes, yes, that is unfortunate.

We've heard that too.

And that is why, we're working also with the Clark County School District and also with schools themselves.

So just yesterday we were at, one, high school that has a wide or a high percentage of immigrant, children there, and mixed family status.

We spoke to the staff and explained what it is we do and what we see and why, you know, because they need to know in order also to talk to the parents.

We offered to talk to the parents as well, letting them know that as of now, there is no reason why those kids should not be in school.

Okay.

And the .. but from what I've read of those know your rights meetings, one includes you do not have to talk to law enforcement.

Yes.

Stay silent.

What are some of the other key important messages you want to get across?

It is important for them to first of all know if a judge has issued an order for for the for Ice in this case to to be there.

Okay.

If t..

But we also have law firms coming into the consulate.

We have a different ones every day, where people can just come in and ask the questions that they want right.

The Tricia Cortez drama Consul of Mexico in Las Vegas.

Thank you for joining Nevada Week.

Thank you very much for having me.