Thanks, Alejandro, that’s very interesting! I do not think the equities are really in favor of people who find that their own fraud has gotten them into trouble, but in such cases it is the parents, not the children, who are at fault, so it seems clearly unjust to turn these cases into a new enforcement priority, even when there has been fraud such as you describe, and particularly in the context of the Trump administration’s overall policy on immigration.

The reason? There is a restriction for foreigners to acquire property in the so called restricted zone, 50 kms in the coastal zone, and 100 from the borders. Out of concern that they would lose the right to inherit property, or for other reasons (attending school in Mexico), many children born in the US would also be registered in Mexico, stating that they were born in Mexico. This has caused problems when the US authorities find out. They claim that the US document was fraudulently obtained, when quite often it is the Mexican certificate that was obtained with false information.

The phenomenon has reduced substantially since the Mexican Congress enacted changes in the late 90’s to the Constitution broadening the right to acquire Mexican Citizenship to those born abroad to Mexican parents. Further, they do not need to renounce their foreign citizenship when they become of legal age (18). This used to be required to obtain a Mexican Passport.