http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/264826
Call center for immigrants

Unbelievable. I don't know what else to say. What next? I just can't believe this.

Mexican government to run Tucson service for the 'most vulnerable'
By Mariana Alvarado
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 10.30.2008
The Mexican government, citing concern about a growing anti-migrant climate in Arizona, is creating a telephone call center to take complaints and assist its citizens when they run into problems.
The call center, expected to open next week, will be in Tucson. It is the first of several that will eventually be set up in cities near the U.S.-Mexico border.
"It is in response to the demands of Mexicans living here in the U.S.," said Juan Manuel Calderón Jaimes, the Mexican consul here. "The call center for Arizona will serve our most vulnerable population, the undocumented."
He said the effort grew out of a directive issued earlier this year by Mexico's president, Felipe Calderón, that all the Mexican consulates in the United States use their protection programs to develop a response to new laws aimed at illegal immigrants, like the Arizona employer sanction law.
Calderón Jaimes said the call-center concept grew out of meetings held between the five Mexican consulates in Arizona: Tucson, Yuma, Nogales, Phoenix and Douglas.
Calderón Jaimes said he knows that the call center may be controversial, but that it is a much-needed service.
"This is a Pandora's box, because we don't know how it will resonate, we don't know what the response will be or the impact it is going to have," he said. "We are trying to ensure our people feel they benefit from the embrace of the Mexican government and that we are addressing their problems."
The Tucson call center will operate a 1-800 number providing service 24 hours a day and will be staffed by nine people who have received special training to receive and process reports from Mexican citizens, particularly those here illegally.
The call centers will focus on helping those who have run into problems on the job, or with U.S. and Arizona law enforcement, said Calderón Jaimes. The goal, he said, is to provide an immediate response to issues that include domestic violence, detentions, human-rights abuses, accidents on the job, and immigration issues like obtaining visas.
Some migrant advocates, like Raquel Rubio-Goldsmith, with the Binational Migration Institute at the University of Arizona, applauded the news that Mexico is dealing with the issues Mexico's people are facing. "I think it's great," she said. "The repatriation issue (as an example) is bad."
Walt Staton, spokesman for No More Deaths, hopes migrants won't be afraid to make reports. He's also interested in seeing how U.S. government agencies like the Department of Homeland Security will respond and whether it and other law enforcement agencies will make a commitment to follow up on the complaints.
Opening a call center like this suggests that there is a lot of misconduct, a lot of abuse that never gets reported; or if it is reported, it is not investigated accurately, he said.
"I'm curious about how much the consulate can do, especially with the Department of Homeland Security", he said. "It just seems it's a good idea; I just hope it actually accomplishes something."
The United States needs to be vigilant and ensure that while "we are enforcing our immigration laws, that we treat people respectfully, that we do so in accordance with laws," said Ira Mehlman with the Federation for American Immigration Reform. But he insisted there is no evidence that there are wholesale abuses taking place.
The call center is a further example of the Mexican government's attempts to interfere in a domestic policy of the United States, he said.
"They simply don't recognize or accept the fact that the United States has the right to impose its immigration laws," he said.
For the U.S. Border Patrol, one of the agencies with which the Mexican Consulate works most closely, the call center is an opportunity to improve cooperation.
The call center could help in processing of information in an emergency, said Mario Agundez, a member of the Border Patrol's Search, Trauma and Rescue (BORSTAR) unit, which is responsible for numerous rescues of migrants in their attempts to enter the U.S. illegally.
The call center will be run by live operators because the main objective is that callers feel comfortable talking to someone in their own language in a cordial atmosphere.
"(We want) the call-center staff to provide a response, so people don't have to leave messages on an automatic telephone system," said Calderón Jaimes.
The person answering the telephone call will be trained to take the report and direct the concern to the appropriate official at whichever of the five Mexican consulates in Arizona has jurisdiction.
In Tucson, the Mexican Consulate has assembled a group of consulting lawyers who will assist with cases as needed.
"So in an emergency case … we can call anytime and go with the consulting attorney to interview the Mexican citizen affected, whether this person is in the jail or at the hospital," said Calderón Jaimes.
Eventually, the call-center staff will have access to a communication network that connects all the Mexican consulates around the world.
The call center will be run by a staff that includes three supervisors and nine operators who have been training with the Mexican Consular Protection Department since last month.
"We are talking about young people. Some of them are from the Universidad Autónoma de México, and most of them are international-affairs graduates," said Calderón Jaimes.
Some of them, like Jorge Federico Alvarado, a supervisor, have previous experience working in call centers.
"We have spent time learning from different people at the Protection Department," Alvarado said of the training the call center staff has received.
And others, like Gabriela RodrÃ*guez, have worked with non-profit organizations that have dealt with migrants or studied the migration issues before. RodrÃ*guez has worked in the past with Sin Fronteras, a non-profit organization that works with migrants.
"For the most part, we have seen cases involving people who are missing, and we begin by searching detention-centers lists," said Gerardo Quintana, another supervisor.
As part of their training, the call-center staffers have worked with people facing deportation through the Border Patrol's Operation Streamline in the federal court in Tucson. They have also visited hospitals and been involved in other outreach activity with Mexican Consulate officials.
"We are developing a call-center operations manual," said Hindeli Avellaneda, another supervisor. The objective is to establish specific response times for different types of cases, she said.
For now, the call center will take complaints only for cases in Arizona. If it is successful, Tucson's call center will serve as a model for other call centers in other states, said Calderón Jaimes. "Mexican consulates in Texas and California have started working together and holding meetings to build a common goal," he said.
On StarNet: For more border stories and to keep with the happenings around the border area, visit azstarnet.com/border
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