Thread: Mexican immigrants obtain photo IDs

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Mexican immigrants obtain photo IDs
2/25/2006 5:47 PM
By: Lisa Reyes, News 14 Carolina


GASTONIA, N.C. – Nancy Capistran said she noticed a big problem, especially among the growing Hispanic community, in just eight months as a Gastonia police officer.

“We’re encountering a lot of people who do not have any type of identification,” Capistran said.

Jose Luis Esteban was one of them. He’s been in the country for six years and he said he needed a photo ID. He said without a photo ID you can’t set up a checking account or buy a house.

Police also said photo IDs could help immigrants open bank accounts, eliminating them as targets for robberies and home invasions.

Capistran wanted to help people like Esteban so she contacted the Mexican Consulate in Raleigh and asked representatives to come to the city to validate documents, such as passports and birth certificates, and issues photo IDs.

This weekend Esteban finally got the help he needed. On Saturday hundreds of Mexican immigrants packed the Phillips Center in Gastonia when members of the Mexican Consulate made the trip to certify documents and help Mexican nationals obtain proper identification.

The passports allow immigrants to travel back and forth to Mexico or set up dual citizenship, and some parents who have given birth in the states may want their children to have Mexican birth certificates. As for the photo IDs – they are just a way of life in this country.

"If something was to happen to them, at least we know who they are, where they belong, who we need to contact,” Capistran said.

All these documents are backed by the Mexican government and the process is lengthy. Computers run background checks before issuing IDs, and if everything checks out the government will issue the IDs regardless of resident status.

“Some people erroneously think that if we issue these types of documents we are legalizing or regularizing the migratory status of our people here in the U.S., and that’s unfortunately not true,” said Mexican Consul Armando Ortiz-Rocha.

But the IDs cannot be used to obtain drivers’ licenses. A recipient can, however, use the ID to verify who he or she is to begin the process of becoming a U.S. citizen.

Members of the consulate already travel one weekend a month throughout both North and South Carolina. They anticipated issuing 600 IDs at Saturday’s event.

Web Journalist: Lindsay Varner

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Why in the he!! didn't Nancy Capistran notify ICE instead of the Mexican Consulate in Raleigh. These illegals are after all criminals who are breaking the law.

Didn't Scott Gardner's death teach the Gastonia Police anything?

I'm going to start contacting Raleigh every day demanding that state and local law enforcement be forced if need be to arrest illegals instead of aiding and abetting them.