THE UNDERSECRETARY FOR NORTH AMERICA, SERGIO M. ALCOCER MARTÍNEZ DE CASTRO, IN CALIFORNIA

The Undersecretary for North America, Sergio M. Alcocer Martinez de Castro, is in Sacramento, California on a working visit, during which he chaired a meeting of the ten Mexican consuls in California. In 2012 alone, these consulates handled 45,000 cases of consular assistance and protection and issued more than 289,000 passports and 346,000 high security consular identity cards.

During the meeting, guidelines were adopted to coordinate the work of the consular network in California. The participants also reviewed the progress of the protection and support programs for the Mexican communities and the process of modernizing customer service. Programs for economic promotion and for linking innovation, technological development and education were discussed.

Given the ongoing debate in the U.S. about a comprehensive immigration reform, the importance of keeping the Mexican population informed and preventing abuse or fraud was stressed. Also discussed were the steps that must be taken to ensure quality consular services in the short and medium term. In addition, the “deferred action” policy of the U.S. government was discussed. This policy has led the California consulates to assist nearly 64,000 young people in the last 8 months.

Undersecretary Alcocer also held meetings with members of the Mexican community in northern California; with academics, educators and officials from universities; prominent leaders from the agricultural sector and the state legislature. The positive aspects of the relationship between Mexico and California were stressed, as was the mutual interest in strengthening the ties.

Mexico is California’s most important international market. Mexico imported 26 billion dollars from California in 2012, and exported 36 billion dollars to it. According to official U.S. figures, 14 million people of Hispanic origin live in California, 82 percent of them Mexican or with Mexican roots.