Thread: Mexican Consulate Coming to Little Rock AR

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Consulate coming to Little Rock

10:54 PM CDT on Monday, July 4, 2005
By SUZI PARKER / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Little Rock may appear to be an unlikely place for a Mexican consulate.

But Arkansas has the second-fastest-growing Hispanic population in the country, behind North Carolina. LULAC officials cite the poultry industry and Wal-Mart in northwestern Arkansas and agriculture opportunities in the southwestern part of the state.

Since 1990, the Hispanic population in Arkansas has risen nearly 437 percent. The 2000 census counted 86,866 Hispanics in Arkansas, but estimates by the League of United Latin American Citizens put the number at more than 200,000.

LULAC, which wrapped up its national convention in Little Rock on Saturday, said the census count was too low because of immigration raids that made Hispanics fear census workers.

"It's important because it is the first diplomatic office in the state of any country," said Carlos Garcia de Alba, Mexico's consul general in Dallas. "The consulate provides different services and more than passports. We can match businessmen from both sides [of the border], as a promoter of arts and culture, and we can bring different exhibitions, promote local artists in Mexico."

Now, Mexican citizens who need help from Mexico must travel to Dallas. Mr. Garcia de Alba said the Little Rock consulate will serve Mexicans in Arkansas and surrounding states, including Oklahoma and Louisiana.

The consulate will open this fall, he said. Mexico is negotiating to lease a building in a strip mall near the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

The consulate will be one of only two that Mexico is opening in the U.S. this year. Another recently opened in Minneapolis.

Suzi Parker is a freelance writer based

They don't even try to hide it any longer. If you drive through Bill Clinton's hometown of Hope they have an "Arkansas Migrant Farm Workers Center". I'd love to be an ICE agent with 1 hour to kill in that place.

BTW, is it a coincidence that Asa Hutchison called off the dogs in L.A. last year when a squad of 9 or 10 ICE agents rounded up 4500 illegals in a weekend? I THINK NOT.

un-frikkin-believable