Thread: Mexican Nationals Get Catch-22 for Christmas travel

Mexicans Get Catch-22 for Christmas
New Document Requirements Block Travel

By SARAH GARLAND
Staff Reporter of the Sun
December 21, 2007


Many Mexican nationals are being blocked from traveling for Christmas under a new law limiting the documents they can use to board planes to fly to Mexico.

The law, the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, prompted the Mexican government on Tuesday to open an emergency mini-consulate at John F. Kennedy International Airport to help Mexican nationals caught off guard by the new rules as they tried to travel during the holidays. Earlier this month, emergency consulates were opened at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago and Los Angeles International Airport.

In a strongly worded press release in Spanish, the Mexican consulate of New York blamed "the problem" faced by Mexican immigrants trying to get home on the "decision of the American authorities not to permit boarding on direct flights to Mexico with identification that is accepted by Mexican immigration officials." It said the Mexican government and Mexican diplomats had not been consulted about the law.

The law, passed in 2004 as a part of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, went into effect in January. It requires citizens of Mexico, Canada, and Bermuda to show a current passport and the visa they used to enter America before they can fly to points in the Western Hemisphere from U.S. cities. They can also show an emergency travel document issued by a consulate.

Most of the publicity surrounding the travel initiative this year has focused on the heightened security measures American citizens will be forced to endure as they travel back and forth across the borders, including new requirements for identification that may include enhanced driver's licenses. Meanwhile, Mexican officials said some airlines with flights to Mexico had not complied with the law until last month, when the American government began issuing fines.

With many Mexican citizens attempting to travel abroad for the holidays, consulates were soon flooded with calls from those who missed or canceled their flights because they were unaware of the new rules.

"There was a lot of misinformation," the consul for the protection department at the Mexican Consulate in Chicago, Ioana Navarrete, said. "A lot of people fly home for Christmas — the timing was not the best."

She said the mini-consulate at O'Hare has been issuing about 50 to 60 emergency travel documents a day since it opened three weeks ago. That number does not include people who came to apply for an emergency document at the main consulate office, where she said several staff members had been dedicated to issuing letters for panicked holiday travelers.

Some Mexican nationals with alien registration cards, which can be used in place of Mexican passports, were confused about the rules and also missed flights, she said.

"What you need to legally enter, you also need to legally depart, which is obviously a passport for the air environment," a spokeswoman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Kelly Klundt, said.

"In short, if you are in the country illegally, we did not facilitate your entry and we're not going to facilitate you leaving," she said.


Upon hearing of the travel law, the founder of the Queens-based Latin American Integration Center, Ana Maria Archila, said the policy seemed to be exacerbating the flaws in the immigration system, rather than fixing them.

"Obviously we have a whole big segment of the population that doesn't have any kind of documentation, and it feeds into the anxiety of being trapped — literally trapped," she said. "To the extent that the country continues not to deal with the issue, innocent people who can't travel home are going to be victims."

Before this year, according to consulate officials, Mexican nationals could fly home with only a voting card, a consulate card known as a matricula consular, a birth certificate, or an expired passport, as long as they were flying directly to Mexico.

To obtain an emergency travel document to comply with the new rules, Mexican nationals may still use those documents, according to Mexican officials, although they must also undergo a lengthy interview with a consular official.

The new initiative, passed unilaterally by Congress in 2004, was recommended by the 9/11 Commission, and is being implemented in two phases. By next year, foreign nationals attempting to exit the country by land or sea must also show a passport, visa, or a border-crossing card before they are allowed to leave. American nationals will have to show a passport or a photo identity card along with a birth certificate or other document proving their citizenship.

The troubles for Mexican nationals attempting to get home in the past two months come as a Government Accountability Office issued a report in November criticizing Customs and Border Protection for allowing thousands of people to enter the country without checking their documents.

El Diario/La Prensa first reported the opening of the JFK mini-consulate, citing a press release announcing that the office would be open at the airport until December 30.

http://www.nysun.com/article/68448

My question is; How do these poor "Victims"(sarc) get back into the USA after the holidays since they are obviously here Illegally ?

My question is.....why can't we let them leave??????????????
They have flights that THEY paid for....LET THEM LEAVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
However...if they do not have the proper documents to return....aw ...sorry

It said the Mexican government and Mexican diplomats had not been consulted about the law.

So we now need Mexico's permission....am sick and tired of Mexican government from butting into American government. Expel 46 of the 47 Mexican consulates.

"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds"- Samuel Adams

Upon hearing of the travel law, the founder of the Queens-based Latin American Integration Center, Ana Maria Archila, said the policy seemed to be exacerbating the flaws in the immigration system, rather than fixing them.
"Obviously we have a whole big segment of the population that doesn't have any kind of documentation, and it feeds into the anxiety of being trapped — literally trapped," she said. "To the extent that the country continues not to deal with the issue, innocent people who can't travel home are going to be victims."





Oh, I just love this one.

Where does this woman come off claiming that this is just another example of of our immigration system being flawed and in need of fixing?

From where I'm sitting, this is exactly how our immigration policy is supposed to work.

It just never ceases to absolutely amaze me how people like this can continue to contend that IAs, particularly from Mexico, should just be permitted to come and go as they please with our full cooperation in their illegality.

And it's always all about the Mexicans, isn't it? Never a peep or complaint from any other nationality or government......just them.

It really just goes to show how deeply embedded is the notion that they have some right to this country and are somehow so superior that they are exempt from our laws.

It said the Mexican government and Mexican diplomats had not been consulted about the law.

Ignorance is no excuse for the law.

I have thought for sometime Bush and/or other government entities have secretly let Mexico think they have some say in our politics because of the wishful thinking of those who want our countries united.It is the only explanation of Mexicos outrageous behavior and their butting into OUR countries Government.

I sure as hell wouldn't stop the "undocumented" from leaving. I would just make sure they had a one way ticket. By allowing them to travel on a round trip ticket means they can come back in illegally. Isn't that aiding and abetting?

Originally Posted by USPatriot

I have thought for sometime Bush and/or other government entities have secretly let Mexico think they have some say in our politics because of the wishful thinking of those who want our countries united.It is the only explanation of Mexicos outrageous behavior and their butting into OUR countries Government.

Think of it along the same lines of bullies, abusers, etc.

People with low opinions of themselves, who have really not gone anywhere in life, lack intelligence, etc. go through life acting like they are God's gift to the world. Nothing which applies to anyone else applies to them, they are above it all, always right and far superior. Their problems and failures are always the fault of others, none of their own.

See any parallells to Mexico there?

Besides the silly idea of Reconquista they have, Mexico is a bully and abuser. They are pushing it and the longer we allow them to get away with it, they are going to continue to take advantage.

We need to stop that.....put all diplomatic relations aside, throw trade out the door if we have to and end the toxic relationship.

USPatriot wrote:

I have thought for sometime Bush and/or other government entities have secretly let Mexico think they have some say in our politics because of the wishful thinking of those who want our countries united.It is the only explanation of Mexicos outrageous behavior and their butting into OUR countries Government.

Mexico is working in US politics.
Federal government's failure to protect us from invasion.
Our US/Mexican border remains open.
Millions of illegals and billions in drugs are crossing the border annually.
Our border agents are attacked by Mexican thugs & no US protest.
Mexico does nothing on their side of the border to stop this.
Mexico demanding US immigration laws be reformed.
Bush and Congress failed to make English our official language.
Ballots & driver licenses tests printed in 23 languages.
Lawsuits against English required in workplace.
Congress gives La Raza millions annually.
The republican & democratic debates were held in Spanish.
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
The Democratic Hispanic Caucus.
Politicians pandering for the hispanic voting bloc.
In the omnibus bill, Congress voted 10 million for illegal attorney fees.
Congress took away the border fence funding.
Our Federal immigration and deportation laws are enforced minimually.
Our national draft registration laws aren't enforced. (illegals must register)
Our flag disrespected.
Political correctness--undocumented vs illegal.
Diversity imposed on us and crammed down our throats.
Big businesses failure to recognize Christmas.
Big banks giving illegals credit cards & loans.
No prayer in schools but Muslim footbaths in airports.
Courts rule in favor of illegals over citizens' rights.
When arrested, hispanics cry 'racial profiling'.
47 Mexican Consulates in the U.S.A.
Mexican consulates issuing Matricula Consular cards for ID.
Mexican Pres. Calderon issued orders to 'neutralize' US citizens feelings.
Calderon insisting "no conditions attached' to 1.4 billion drug grant.
Mexican opposition party to open 6 migrant offices (houses) in US.
ACLU
NAFTA
Meetings & treaties between Canadian/Mexican/US presidents.
NAU
And today--U.S. Army Sets up Diversity Task Force
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-95420.html

"The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism - ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or any controlling private power."
Franklin D. Roosevelt