Mexico’s private sector has stated its commitment to offering 50,000 jobs to Mexicans deported from the United States — 15,000 more jobs than originally proposed — following U.S. President Donald Trump’s promise of a “mass deportation” of migrants illegally residing in the U.S.

At a meeting with representatives of 70 companies on Tuesday, Interior Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez recognized the cooperation of the business community in response to an “appeal to goodwill.” 

Rodríguez explained that the private sector-supported hiring program will allow returning migrants to reintegrate into the labor market through the Labor Inclusion Program for Repatriated People, an initiative of the Business Coordinating Council (CCE).

“If at least one in every 20 establishments employed one new person, we could hire 50,000 people. That is equivalent to hiring a quarter of all repatriations that occured in 2024,” said Roberto Campa, head of corporate affairs at Femsa (the parent company of Oxxo), at the meeting.

According to a presentation given by President Sheinbaum on Tuesday, Mexico received 181,202 Mexican deportees in 2024. 

President of the CCE Francisco Cervantes Díaz said that the private sector must make their “greatest effort” to capitalize on the work experiences that repatriated Mexicans have had in various industries like manufacturing, agriculture and other sectors. 

Available jobs will be advertised in collaboration with the employment agency ManPower, the Labor and Social Welfare Ministry (STPS) and the National Employment System (SNE). Listings will be published on the SNE website starting Feb. 3, Díaz explained. After Feb. 10, they will update the list of vacancies every Monday.  

Campa noted that this program is exclusively for Mexican citizens.

For the program to succeed, Díaz added that they need the support of the federal government, the STPS and local governments.

Alejandro Malagón Barragán, President of the Confederation of Industrial Chambers (Concamin), said that sectors with job postings include housing, construction, processed food and beverages and restaurants. 

Some of the businessmen who attended the meeting included Julio Carranza Bolívar, president of the Association of Mexican Banks (ABM), Juan José Sierra Álvarez, president of the Employers’ Confederation of Mexico (Coparmex) and Juan Pablo Molina, vice president of Labor Welfare of the National Agricultural Council (CNA), among others. 

President Claudia Sheinbaum’s government recently launched a “comprehensive program” for Mexicans deported during the second Trump administration.

The program — called “México te abraza,” or “Mexico embraces you” — provides welfare support for deportees, registration with the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) and economic aid so that returning migrants “can return to their places of origin,” Sheinbaum said.

With reports from La Jornada and El Economista