Thread: Southeast residents challenging Guatemalan ID

http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs ... 026/NEWS10

Southeast residents challenging Guatemalan ID
By MARCELA ROJAS
THE JOURNAL NEWS

Original publication: August 4, 2006)

A year ago, Carlos Martinez, a landscaper who lives in Brewster, purchased a photo identification card from the Guatemalan Consulate General in New York City.

With no prior form of ID, except for a Cédula de Vecinidad — a Guatemalan national identification document issued to all its citizens when they turn 18 — Martinez said the card has served him well, allowing him to open a checking account at a local bank and even to take an airline trip to Disneyland.

"It's good to have because it's a way to identify a person," said Martinez, 29, who has been in Brewster for 12 years. "It's like a passport that fits in your wallet."

But the card, while perhaps useful, has created a stir in Southeast, where many Guatemalans are using it to gain access to the town's only public beach at Lake Tonetta.

At a recent Town Board meeting, some residents complained about the consular document, also known as a blue card, questioning its legitimacy and whether it was enough to establish proof of residency.

One resident, Michael Hecht, said Tonetta is a family beach and that women's swimming in their bras, not to mention a "mumps outbreak," was destroying that environment. Last month, the Putnam County Department of Health reported one mumps case in a Brewster resident, prompting an immunization effort in the village's Hispanic population.

Brewster resident Bill Mangieri said town services and facilities should only be allowed to people who are in the country legally.

"Local government allowing foreign nationals to use these ID cards makes it easier for illegal immigrants to live and work in Brewster," he said. "They become a burden to the taxpayers of this town."

Southeast Recreation Department Director Ray Knox said that early on, beach gatekeepers might have accepted the consular ID card as proof of residency, but that has been corrected.

Last year, the Town Board enacted a law that said a person must show a photo ID plus current proof of residency, such as a utility bill, to use the beach. In Brewster, many Hispanic immigrants live in rented apartments with several people, and bills may only be addressed to one person. A day pass for an adult costs $6 on weekends, and a season pass is $65.

"If they are residents of Southeast and they can prove it, then they are just like any other resident who is able to purchase a pass," said Supervisor John Dunford, referring to the Guatemalan population using the beach. "We have made it clear that the rules and regulations must be enforced."

Victor Padilla,the village's volunteer Hispanic liaison, said opponents of the card simply don't want the community's Guatemalan population using the beach.

"They look for any reason not to let them have access to things. First, it's that they don't have ID, now they have ID, and there's another problem," Padilla said. "So they look a little different. The whole world can't be white."

The Guatemalan Consulate General in New York began issuing the photo identification cards to its citizens in August 2002. The cards, which are valid for five years, include a person's name, his or her photo, date of birth, current address, ID number and passport number.

To receive a card, an individual must go to the consular office in Manhattan and submit a valid passport. If a person does not have a passport, a birth certificate or cédula is acceptable, said Guatemalan Consul General Rosa Maria Merida de Mora. Those without passports must apply for one at the same time they are getting a consular ID card, she said. The card costs $15 and must be sent through the mail for another $15. A passport costs $50.

About 60,000 Guatemalan consular cards have been issued in New York since the program started, Merida de Mora said. Any Guatemalan, regardless of legal status, is eligible to get one, she added. The cards are useful in opening up accounts at banks, including Citibank, Chase and Bank of America, Merida de Mora said.

"We are trying to support the community," she said. "We've always had a registry system, but this is a more secure document and more accepted."

Other consular offices, including the Mexican and Ecuadorean consulates, issue similar ID cards. Lack of identification has long been a problem for the undocumented population. And while the cards attempt to remedy that, critics say they pose a threat to national security and encourage illegal immigration. Instances of fraudulent and forged cards have been reported.

Patricia Perez, Putnam County's director of community affairs, said a large portion of Brewster's Hispanic community has consulate cards.

"I've been encouraging people to get them because they need some form of ID," Perez said. "It's almost as official as a passport."

Just because you put someone's name and picture on a plastic card, doesn't make it a valid ID. I didn't here the Guatemalan representative describe any kind of identity verification process. She also said that it didn't matter if they were here illegaly or not.