Consejo Consultivo del Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior (CC-IME) / Advisory Council of the Institute for Mexicans Abroad

The CC-IME was formally established by presidential decree on April 16, 2003, published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación. The program emerged from a strategic policy shift by the government of President Vicente Fox, who promised Mexican migrants "privileged access" to the president following his election in 2000. Between 1990 and 2000, the Mexican government operated the Programa para las Comunidades Mexicanas en el Exterior (PCME), a lower-profile program administered through consulates. The creation of the CC-IME represented an elevation of diaspora engagement from this previous approach.​

The institutional framework established a hierarchical structure: at the top level, the Consejo Nacional para las Comunidades Mexicanas en el Exterior (CNCME), an inter-ministerial commission with 11 participating government secretariats headed by the President; below this, the Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior (IME) as the executive arm; and at the operational level, the CC-IME as the advisory body composed of diaspora community leaders.

The first CC-IME cohort was established through elections organized by the 42 Mexican consulates in the United States (later expanded to 52 jurisdictions). Consulates solicited nominations and self-nominations from their contacts in Mexican and Mexican American communities. Elections were held in each consular jurisdiction, with positions proportioned according to diaspora population size (for example, Los Angeles had 11 positions, Dallas had 4). The first cohort consisted of 105 elected or appointed advisors, 10 representatives from Mexican migrant organizations, 10 special legal advisors, and 32 representatives of Mexican state governments, totaling approximately 157 members with substantial diversity in background, generation, education level, and civic experience.​

President Fox provided significant political support, including weekly radio addresses to Mexicans abroad and prioritizing funding and institutional attention to the CC-IME initiative, which elevated its status compared to earlier diaspora programs. Detailed operational procedures were formalized, including the Procedimiento PR-IME-05 established in 2011, which standardized processes for organizing ordinary council meetings, coordinating with government agencies, managing logistics, developing agendas, and coordinating recommendations to government ministries.​

The CC-IME has been renewed for successive three-year cohorts since its establishment (2003-2005, 2006-2008, 2009-2011, and continuing into the 2020s), demonstrating institutional persistence across political administrations.