Thread: Consular ID cards ignite immigration debate

Consular ID cards ignite immigration debate.
By MARCELA ROJAS
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original Publication: August 3, 2007)
http://www.nyjournalnews.com/apps/pbcs. ... /708030372

Oscar Hernandez, a construction worker who lives in Brewster, visited the Guatemalan Consulate General in New York City in November to purchase a photo identification card.

Hernandez, 23, said he applied for the consular ID card, presenting his Cédula de Vecinidad - a Guatemalan national identification document - as valid proof of his identity. In Guatemala, all citizens are issued a cédula when they turn 18 and are required to show their birth certificate to get one, he said.

The consular card, which Hernandez said he received in the mail, is valid for five years and includes his name, photo, date of birth, signature, current address, cédula ID number and passport number.

Hernandez, who is not in the country legally, said he wanted one so he could carry identification in his pocket.

"It has all the information that my passport has. It's proof of who I am," Hernandez said. "If someone asks for ID, I show that because it has the government seal and I know it's not false."

It is this consular ID card, otherwise known as a blue card, that has caused a maelstrom this week between political opponents running for town office and further fueled the intense debate over illegal immigration.

Brewster Mayor John Degnan, a candidate for Southeast supervisor, had invited the consul general of Guatemala to the village this week to discuss issuing the photo ID cards through a mobile service the consulate provides.

Lack of identification has long been a problem in the undocumented population. Although the cards attempt to remedy that, critics say they pose a threat to national security and encourage illegal immigration.

Degnan said the card would help in enforcing quality-of-life infractions.

Supervisor candidate Michael Rights sent out computerized phone messages this week, claiming that Degnan and Southeast Councilwoman Lorraine Mitts, who is also running for supervisor, had begun issuing photo ID cards.

Another set of calls went out Wednesday from an anonymous grandmother saying she was forced to leave Lake Tonetta in the summer of 2006, when a large group of Hispanic men used consular cards to gain access to the beach and were swimming in their underwear next to her grandchildren.

The town of Southeast no longer accepts consular cards as proof of residency or identity, after residents complained in the summer of 2006 about their use at the lake. To use the lake, a person must show proof of identity and residence, such as a driver's license and utility bill. A sign posting beach rules in English and Spanish says that proper bathing attire is required for swimming and that cutoffs, jeans, T-shirts or undergarments are not allowed.

Rights and his Save Our Southeast ticket also held a news conference Wednesday, with former immigration agent Michael Cutler, fervently opposing the consular cards and emphasizing their dangers. ID cards issued by foreign governments, they claimed, could promote crime because they are not sound proof of identification.

"When you are dealing with the undocumented, there is no way of proving their identity," Cutler said. "Providing official identity documents is creating a national security nightmare."

Town Board candidate Matthew Neuringer said the town instead should create a consumer-affairs department that would seek to register contractors who hire only legal workers. Unregistered contractors would be fined $1,000 to $5,000, he said.

The Guatemalan Consulate General in New York began issuing the photo identification cards to its citizens in August 2002. To receive a card, an individual must submit a valid passport, a birth certificate or cédula, Consul General Rosa Maria Merida said. The card costs $15.

"The Guatemalan ID card is a very safe document," Merida said. "We have taken all appropriate measures to verify and ensure the cards' security. We are sure that the document is true and correct."

The consulate has provided more than 70 mobile consulate service centers, including ones in Port Chester, Mamaroneck and Mount Kisco, Merida said. This year, 11,300 photo ID cards have been issued throughout New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, she said.

After receiving the call from the grandmother denouncing the cards' use at the lake, one Southeast resident filed a complaint with the Southern Poverty Law Center - a nonprofit organization dedicated to combating racism and promoting civil rights.

Elizabeth Pope said the center would forward her complaint to the Intelligence Project that monitors hate groups and tracks extremist activity. She said she also sent an e-mail to the SOS team.

"My daughter heard the answering machine spewing this hate message, and though she does not fully understand hatred yet, she does know that someone was different and that made the lady not like them," Pope's missive to SOS read. "I WILL ALWAYS choose to have my daughter swim with people of other races and ethnicities than talk to or swim with a racist hate monger."

Rights defended his actions, saying there were serious issues facing the community that the incumbent elected officials had failed to confront.

"Men allegedly swimming in their underwear near children of tender years is wrong in any community," he said, "including ours."

Okay, I'm a little confused here so will somebody please explain this to me in words of one syllable so I can understand.

Why would it be okay for an illegal to be here if they possess a Consular ID card!!! Is that supposed to be some kind of "get out of jail free" card? I don't care if they have a this stupid card - it isn't worth anything more than the Monopoly version. If they don't have LEGAL U.S. identification, they're still ILLEGAL!!!

Or am I missing something obvious here?

YOu know it just seems that our country should issue whatever cards are necessary for identification.

Ms Pope is so brainwashed by the PC jargon she has been fed since birth, she can't see a danger when it is right in her face.

"Consular card" is it like a glorified Nation ID card for there country or like a passport? Do these people get licenses anymore or do they illegally come here when they turn 18? I am shocked that a foreign ID would give any "special" treatment in our country!!! Yes as stated ILLEGAL IS ILLEGAL! You can have a card that the Lord Jesus Crist gave you on you birth bed but your still illegal!!! The only piece of paper that will make you a citizen is a naturalization card or green card!!! If you don't have one leave and take your anchors with you!!!