Ambassador Carlos Sada Solana told Mexican state news agency Notimex Tuesday that applying for citizenship could be an important defense against deportation and other actions if Trump changes U.S. immigration policies.

"It's one of the very important protection actions to become citizens, because then they're no longer subject to deportation processes and on the other hand, they don't lose Mexican citizenship," he told Notimex.

Sada said the problem was that many immigrants with legal status and eligibility for citizenship choose not to apply. The top reasons he cited were not considering U.S. citizenship important or necessary, plans to leave the U.S., not speaking English and a lack of information about the process.

According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), there are around 2.6 million Mexican lawful permanent residents (LPR) in the United States who are eligible for citizenship, but who haven't yet applied.