The Foreign Service Journal, October 2016

50 OCTOBER 2016 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL busy intersection in the capital, coming to the embassy’s attention only when he was hit by a car and killed. “If you’ve only got a second-grade education, you are more likely to find yourself in trouble, out of a job or in jail,” says Lang. Not only do these kids become part of the consular caseload of vulnerable U.S. citizens in Mexico—they also go back to the United States, where they face difficulties because of their lack of access to education. Monterrey: The Starting Point for a Mission-Wide Effort When former ACS Chief Daisy Cardiel arrived at Consulate General Monterrey in late 2013, she did not realize she was at the start of something big. The local government had just published a report identifying thousands of U.S.-citizen children in the state of Durango who could not attend school because they were not doc- umented as Mexican citizens. The consul general was in shock. “It just erupted. Our consul general was so passionate about the kids who couldn’t get into school or who couldn’t get health benefits,” says Cardiel. By November 2014, the consulate general had organized a binational conference with Mexican stakeholders—health officials, immigration officers and education experts interested in exploring solutions to the bureaucratic hurdles keeping kids back. The experience became a model for other posts. Consular officers in Tijuana and Nuevo Laredo mobilized migrant conferences to unite local officials and community organizers on both sides of the border. The consulates general in Guadalajara and Hermosillo and U.S. Embassy Mexico City hosted senior-level talks to identify outreach opportunities and administrative solutions at state and federal levels. The increased collaboration between U.S. consular officers and Mexican officials produced significant results: the Mexican secretary of education relaxed documentation requirements for children entering elementary and middle school. In consulates across Mexico, information sharing and outreach have mushroomed through local radio and TV and social media. The embassy has more than one million followers on its Facebook page, and has successfully partnered with national celebrities to promote dual nationality. Consulates and consular agencies have also hosted passport fairs across Mexico, usually organized in collaboration withMexi- Community Relations Officer Andres Rodriguez talks about U.S. passports to a group of Oaxacan migrants on the lawn of a Catholic church in the San Joaquin Valley in California. Many have U.S.-born children. MARYRODRIGUEZ/U.S.DEPARTMENTOFSTATE Two young U.S. citizens celebrate applying for their first passports at a Documéntate fair in the border city of Tijuana, a major hub for returning migrant families. OMARBARRIOS/U.S.CONSULATEGENERALTIJUANA