Immigrant Eduardo Banda was direct: “Is the Mexican government ready for massive deportations?”

About 300 people gathered to ask similar tough questions at a Wednesday meeting called by Mexican consulate officials about what they delicately phrased as “challenges” expected in the aftermath of Donald Trump's rise to power. Many Mexican immigrants are worried and desperate about deportations threatened by the president-elect.

Mexican Consul Francisco de la Torre emphasized his government’s recently announced plan to assist the immigrant community, but even he acknowledged few countries can be prepared for sudden deportations of the scale Trump has threatened.

“All Mexicans can be certain that we are going to be with them permanently,” de la Torre said as he spoke in the vast, upstairs gallery of the Mexican consulate.

Two weeks ago, the Mexican government launched an official campaign under the slogan of "estamos contigo," we are with you. It includes extended consulate hours in its legal units and a hotline to answer questions. It also recommends strengthening relations with local and state authorities.

"We will build bridges, not walls," said de la Torre in a counterpoint to Trump's promise to build a wall between the two nations.

In a point of pride for a nation many feel Trump has humiliated, the diplomat added that the Mexican government is ready for dialogue with Trump “on an equal footing.”

Dallas police officers address crowd at Mexican consulate, assuring them they are not federal immigration officers. (Ana Azpurua/Staff)

The North Texas diplomatic post is the third largest in the U.S., de la Torre has said, and the large turnout in Dallas underscored spreading anxiety among unauthorized immigrants, legal immigrants and even Mexican-Americans.

Mexicans and their government have faced sudden deportations before. During the Great Depression, about 1 million Mexican immigrants and their U.S.-born children returned to Mexico, according to the historians who wrote the book Decade of Betrayal on that period.

During the eight years of the administration of President Barack Obama, more than 2.5 million immigrants have been deported. The majority have been Mexicans, and many took their U.S. citizen children with them back to Mexico.

Trump has seemed to soften his stance promising mass deportations on "day one" of his administration and recently said in an interview on CBS' 60 Minutes that he would deport or incarcerate 2 million to 3 million immigrants with criminal records. That quickly raised questions about whether that many unauthorized immigrants had criminal convictions, or whether Trump was merely referring to those who had been criminally charged.

During the campaign, Trump called some of the Mexicans rapists and criminals. But in the 60 Minutes interview, he said that once the border was secure a determination would be made on other immigrants. He called them "terrific people."

The crowd heard from a chain of speakers, from Mexican diplomats to Catholic priests, from a Mexican businessman to the Dallas mayor pro tem, who sought to sooth nerves.

The Rev. Rudy Garcia, the Roman Catholic rector of the Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe, told the group about another Mexican marginalized in society. That was Juan Diego, the humble Mexican man to whom the bronze-skinned mother of God is widely believed to have appeared centuries ago.

The priest said he was there to give emotional and spiritual support.

"We are in a crisis but we will convert it to unity," said Garcia, the son of Mexican immigrants.

Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Monica Alonzo praised Dallas police officers who attended the meeting. “The Dallas Police Department is not the immigration department,” she said. And then added: “If you have any problem, let us know.”

“We are as valuable as anyone else. Don’t lose faith,” she said in Spanish.

Dallas Police Officer Israel Marquez tried to relax the crowd by calling them “mi raza,” and telling them that his own family is from Los Altos de Jalisco, a region of central Mexico.

Immigration enforcement — largely civil offenses — is the job of federal immigration agents. “We will not do anything to those who are here to succeed,” the officer said.

Class divisions that so often mark Mexican society were muted. Fernando Krasovsky, a Mexican businessman who heads the local chapter of the Association of Mexican Entrepreneurs, called on the many in the working-class crowd to rally around a common cause. "It is so important to be united," Krasovsky said as the crowd listened. "Just like you, we are nervous and worried."

Children color at the Mexican consulate in Dallas, while their parents listen to presentations by Mexican and Dallas officials on potential policy changes with the Trump administration. (Ana Azpurua/Staff)

Many wanted concrete details. Know-your-rights workshops for immigrants have been held weekly since Trump won the electoral college vote.

Lisandra Tamayo worries about her 17-year-old son, whom she brought to the U.S. as a toddler. He now has a temporary work permit and protection from a possible deportation through the 2012 executive action by Obama called the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. The children covered by this program are widely known as "The Dreamers."

“He knows nothing of Mexico,” Tamayo said in Spanish. “He tells me: ‘If they throw me out, what am I going to do over there, Mama?’”

Tamayo wants to get Mexican citizenship for her younger children, who hold U.S. citizenship — a practical tool if she is deported and must take the entire family of mixed U.S. and Mexican citizenships with her, she said.

Aracely Milan wanted details about how to protect her family from the blunt force of racism or more subtle acts of discrimination, she said. “Above all, with this atmosphere after the elections,” Milan said, “we must educate ourselves on how to avoid escalating the violence.”

Banda said he fears violence, too, back in his home state of San Luis Potosi. If loved ones are deported, they’d have to survive threats from cartels that plague regions of a country of 122 million headed by President Ernesto Pena Nieto.

“The situation is critical,” said Banda, tapping his snakeskin boots on the floor for emphasis. “There is organized crime. Is President Pena Nieto doing anything?”