Agencies Launch Awareness Campaign on Executive Actions for Mexicans and Central Americans

The Departments of State and Homeland Security have launched the “Executive Action on Immigration: Know the Facts” awareness campaign, a national and international outreach effort detailing the eligibility requirements for requesting deferred action under President Obama’s announcement in November 2014. The campaign, aimed at the Mexican and Central American public, explains how Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) will be implemented and who is eligible, “in an effort to dispel potential misinformation.”

The campaign, in collaboration with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), is intended to:

• inform undocumented immigrants in the United States and the Mexican and Central American public about DAPA and to whom it applies;
• dissuade family members living in the United States from supporting the unauthorized migration of family members, including by emphasizing that persons currently in the United States who help undocumented family members enter the country will be barred from DAPA; and
• dissuade members of the Mexican and Central American public from migrating to the United States without authorization in the hope of taking advantage of executive actions that do not apply to them, including by reminding them that migrants apprehended at the border or ports of entry while attempting to unlawfully enter the United States fall into the United States’ “highest enforcement and removal priority.”

The campaign includes:

• running radio and TV public service announcements in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and U.S. metropolitan areas with high concentrations of Mexicans and Central Americans, such as Houston, Los Angeles, the District of Columbia, New York, and Miami;
• placing print products in English and Spanish language outlets in those countries;
• engaging English and Spanish-language media in the United States, Mexico, and Central America;
• providing more information on executive action eligibility on CBP’s and USCIS’ websites; and
• updating CBP’s Information Call Center help lines with the latest information in Spanish and English.

The announcement is available here. Campaign materials and additional information can be viewed and downloaded at . A social media campaign is also being planned.