Who are these young deportees in Mexico?

New Comienzos (New Beginnings), headquartered in Mexico City, was founded in 2014 by a deportee from the United States, Isreal Concha, who had spent 30 years in the U.S. The organization has helped thousands of young deportees to orient themselves in Mexico. Some speak very little Spanish.

Its website pitches to deportees:

Legal/psychological help: “Thanks to the support of the Citizen Council, our community of dreamers, repatriated persons and binational families in Mexico have support in an emergency situation.”

English Certification: “Do you have 80% -100% of English? Would you like to obtain a free English certification from the SEP and INEA? “ (This will help them get a job in an English language call center.)

Programming Course: “Would you like to change careers and become a programmer? Now you can change your future and apply for this 5 month course where you can get great benefits.”

Volunteer at the airport: “Join us every Wednesday at 12:00 pm, CDMX Airport, Terminal 2, N Gate, to receive our newly deported compatriots. We are a community that supports each other.”

A New York Times article describes young deportees this way: “They dress differently, they think differently, they speak broken Spanish and they dream in English. They miss everyday American life and its special occasions. They long for American food, rattling off every conceivable American chain restaurant. Several insist that Mexican tacos couldn’t begin to compete with Taco Bell. They are American football fans rather than soccer aficionados. A handful confess they aren’t following the World Cup because the United States didn’t qualify.

They can still proudly recite the Pledge of Allegiance and sing the United States national anthem. They loved observing United States holidays and several still do even back in Mexico. On Thanksgiving they expressed gratitude for opportunities the United States provided them. On July 4, they celebrated a country where “everyone praises each other’s successes.”

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