MEXICO CITY — In the area known as Little Los Angeles, in the Tabacalera neighborhood of Mexico City, some passersby may not know what goes on in the nondescript white building where many binationals — as repatriated Mexicans deported from the U.S. refer to themselves — are working in call centers, adjusting to new surroundings and struggling to rebuild their lives.

For these recent deportees, who have long been under the gaze of people and groups — whether it's ICE or the U.S. Border Patrol, criminal groups or even fellow Mexicans — it’s easy to see how anonymity might feel welcome.

This makes the radical openness of someone like Israel Concha — a former deportee himself — magnetic and slightly subversive but vital. He thinks that Mexicans who have spent time in the U.S. bring crucial skills back to their home country and should be an integral part of society.

Concha, 38, is the president of New Comienzos, a nonprofit that helps Mexicans recently deported from the U.S. get back on their feet. Founded in January 2015, New Comienzos works in most states across Mexico and has helped over 5,000 deportees adapt to returning home, search for employment, find access to legal and psychological help, and get accreditations in both English and Spanish through government sponsors and the help of VIRAL, an internet youth platform aimed at facilitating community projects.

Israel Concha is the president of New Comienzos, a nonprofit that helps Mexicans recently deported from the U.S. Gustavo Martinez Contreras

Mexico has a federal program, Somos Mexicanos, founded in 2014 and with a presence in all 32 Mexican states; it was created to aid in the social and economic reintegration of repatriated Mexicans. But New Comienzos is arguably on the vanguard when it comes to helping those who were sent back navigate crucial issues beyond jobs and housing — such as sexual assault, bullying and discrimination.

It's not uncommon for the Mexican government to reach out to New Comienzos as they and organizations like the Instituto Nacional de Migració find themselves bracing for a surge of repatriated Mexicans in the wake of the Trump administration’s deportation policy.

Concha was brought by relatives to the U.S. when he was 2; the family stayed in the country when its tourist visa expired. Concha obtained a business degree from the University of Texas-San Antonio but couldn't find work because of his undocumented status. So he started his own business, American Yellow Cab, which offered limo, cab, shuttle and rental car services and employed more than 30 Americans. But then he was stopped for speeding, which led to deportation proceedings. At the time, his company was making over $300,000 in net profit a year and growing.

After walking the international bridge from the U.S. into Nuevo Laredo, across the border from Laredo, Texas, in 2014, Concha was kidnapped the same day. He managed to escape and vowed from that day to use his savings to help others in the same situation.

Still funded in part by Concha’s own contributions, New Comienzos is now largely funded by donations from other undocumented people living in the United States.

At the airport, waiting

There are 11 repatriation points across Mexico, Mexico City being one of them.

Concha, along with a group of volunteers from New Comienzos, has been going every week to Terminal 2 at Mexico City's Benito Juarez International Airport to greet the approximately 150 deportees who were arriving every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. They bring fresh clothes — many deportees are still wearing what they wore when they were apprehended — as well as food and the offer of any help New Comienzos can provide to those who need it.

Israel Concha welcomes volunteers to the New Comienzos space. Founded in 2015, the group has helped over 5,000 deportees. Gustavo Martinez Contreras

But since the end of May, it's been different. “We started noticing at the airports that the flights have been canceled," Concha said. "We know there’s clearly a problem going on."

In June, Mexico's foreign secretary, Luis Videgaray, said that the Trump administration had halted flights to Mexico City in an effort to focus resources on the repatriation of Central American migrants.

An official from ICE told NBC News in a statement on July 31 that commercial flights taking Mexican nationals back to Mexico were still being conducted, and that, as of July 23, the agency had flown 112,441 Mexican nationals so far this fiscal year. The official also said that 80 percent of 128,765 removals in 2017 were by land borders, meaning that no flights were involved.

According to a report in June, some shelters in the northern part of Mexico have had a steep increase in deportees; advocates say the region is more dangerous for migrants.

In Mexico City, Concha said he still hasn't seen flights resume. He worries about what is happening to deportees if the repatriation process is slowed or halted.

“We have family members that tell us that people are still being detained even after a deportation order by a judge,” Concha said.

What happens to deportees?

While Concha worries about the fate of deportees who have still not made it back to Mexico, he's also deeply immersed in his newest project: a kind of demographic research of the recently deported in Mexico City.

In New Comienzos’ Silicon Valley-like co-working space, surrounded by tech entrepreneurs, freelance writers and graphic artists, he meets with volunteers and explains the study. American academics are doing part of the research and journalists have been invited to observe.