Thread: People line up for hours for chance to get Mexican ID card

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People line up for hours for chance to get Mexican ID card
By CHRISTINA E. SANCHEZ and MICHAEL A. SCARCELLA


STAFF WRITERS


christina.sanchez@heraldtribune.com
michael.scarcella@heraldtribune.com

BRADENTON -- Sixteen-year-old Gabriela Ruiz came to Bradenton with her sister and parents Friday night to make sure they snared a good spot in line. By dawn on Saturday, the crowd had swelled, and tempers flared.

More than a thousand immigrants lined up for a chance to get an identification card from the Mexican Consulate. Only about 250 IDs were going to be handed out.

A Booker High School student in Sarasota, Ruiz has lived in the United States for most of her life. But because she and her parents are illegal immigrants, Ruiz is not eligible for a Florida ID or driver's license.

No identification for Ruiz and so many others means not being able to do things most of us take for granted: cash a check, rent an apartment, prove who you are.

Since 9/11, laws in various states, including Florida, prevent illegal immigrants from getting or renewing U.S. government IDs or driver's licenses.

In Florida, a Mexican voter card used to be all a person needed to get a driver's license. State laws changed in 2002, however, after officials learned the 9/11 terrorists had Florida IDs.

And now, with the looming debate in Congress and across the country over immigration policy reform, it has become even harder for illegal immigrants to get identification.

Red Cross rush hour

On Saturday, the Manatee County chapter of the American Red Cross hosted a mobile Mexican Consulate program to issue official Mexican "matricula consular" IDs.

The matricula consular is not a driver's license, although it has similar features. The person's photo, name, date of birth and address appear on the ID.

The mobile consulate program only comes to the Manatee County area once every six to nine months.

And on Saturday, there was a hitch: time and staff limitations meant it was on a first-come, first-served basis. That meant only 250 people could get the ID.

Latecomers who tried to break into the line were not welcome.

Makeshift signs printed in Spanish -- pointing people to bathrooms and refreshments -- were posted inside the Red Cross building in the 2900 block of 59th Street West.

When the mobile unit comes to town, word spreads quickly, said Darlene Monroe, health services director for the Red Cross in Manatee.

Monroe estimated more than a thousand applicants had lined up by 5:30 a.m., when she arrived. The doors opened at 10.

"Imagine you are in a country that was not your own, and you had no identification to prove who you are," said Monroe. "If you want to do anything in our society, you have to prove who you are."

She said more than 100 people raised their hands when she asked in Spanish how many in the crowd had spent the night.

"I sent quite a few home," Monroe said Saturday as she flipped through government papers a woman brought in a folder.

ID of last resort

By noon, more than a hundred people were waiting in line with no guarantee they'd be let inside to get the ID. Some applicants carried umbrellas to block the midday sun. Others used government papers to shield their faces.

Red Cross officials distributed water and other refreshments.

"It's been crazy," said Sarasota resident Nora Perez, 25, who had been waiting with her boyfriend and his brother since about 4 a.m.

Perez was born in Texas and has a U.S. driver's license. But her friend, a native of Mexico, wants the ID card. Perez's group decided to wait even though they were not among the first 250 people.

She said she read about the mobile Mexican Consulate in a Spanish-language magazine last month.

Monroe said the Red Cross has sponsored the consulate's visit for three years. Not every Mexican who attends the program is an illegal immigrant, she said.

"A lot of the folks are here legally with a migrant worker's visa," she said. "The Red Cross is a neutral organization, and we are here to help everybody."

Consulate official David Penaflor said lack of funds and a large coverage area prevent the Orlando mobile consulate's five-member team from visiting here more often.

"We do the mobile program because many Mexicans cannot come to our downtown office," Penaflor said.

The consulate holds two mobile programs each month throughout Northern and Central Florida because of the need for the matricula, he said.

"Now in the U.S., the matricula is very important, particularly because of the concern with security issues," Penaflor said. "People need to be able to prove who they are."

To obtain a matricula consular, a Mexican citizen needs to have an original Mexican birth certificate and an official ID from Mexico, such as a Mexican election card or a middle school certificate.

Smiling for the camera

Red Cross officials prescreened applicants to make sure each had the right paperwork -- in some cases, crumpled, folded sheets of paper that have been carried long distances.

A proof of address in the United States is also required. The cost to apply for the matricula is $27.

Monroe said rumors circulate about folks who plan to protest at ID application centers like the Red Cross. Some people have called the Red Cross in the past and threatened to cut donations because the agency is providing a service to illegal immigrants.

"We're the Red Cross. We're neutral," Monroe said. "Our mission is to serve the community."

Florida's Minutemen Corps, a group against rights for illegal immigrants, disagrees with the Red Cross' decision to host the mobile consulate program.

"These Mexicans get Mexican IDs so they can hide from law enforcement and hide their illegality in this country," said Mike Jarbeck, president of the Florida organization. "These identification cards are not supposed to be handed out in our country. It's an affront to our sovereignty and our government to allow this to happen."

Ruiz, the Booker High student, moved to Sarasota from a border town along the Texas-Mexico border.

"For a better life," the teenager said, explaining why her parents relocated to Florida. Her father is a construction worker and her mother works at a dry cleaning store.

"There is better education here. You get a better way of living," Ruiz said.

Ruiz, who speaks English and Spanish, doesn't think it's fair that she can't get a driver's license. She and friends attended an immigrant rights rally in Fort Myers this year.

She once dreamed of college, but said her status in the country could bar her from attending a university. She plans to study cosmetology at Sarasota County Technical Institute.

Ruiz didn't sleep much on the beach chair she brought Friday night.

Shortly before noon, an official from the Mexican Consulate counted to three and snapped her picture for her new card.

Ruiz was beaming.




Last modified: July 16. 2006 3:54AM

"We're the Red Cross. We're neutral," Monroe said. "Our mission is to serve the community."

Okay, I buy that - but isn't this ENABLING illegals?