Thread: Sali's Concerns Put Spotlight On Mexican ID Cards

Sali's concerns put spotlight on ID cards issued by Mexico
Mexican officials say the matricula consular is used mainly to get a bank account, but the congressman says they just make life easier for illegal immigrants.

BY ERIKA BOLSTAD - ebolstad@idahostatesman.com
Edition Date: 05/25/08

WASHINGTON - When the Mexican government opens its consulate in Boise, one of the services it will offer is identification for Mexican citizens living in the U.S., whether they're in this country legally or not.
Many of the Mexican government's 48 other consulates in the U.S. issue the identification, known as matricula consular, or consular registration. The cards are most useful at banks, which generally accept them to open up accounts.

"It's an identification card," said Humberto Fuentes of Nampa, a longtime advocate for farmworkers who founded the Idaho Migrant Council and who sits on a Mexican government advisory committee, the Institute of Mexicans Abroad. "Mexico has done a lot of work to make sure those matriculas are secure."

But matricula IDs are at the heart of the concerns raised by U.S. Rep. Bill Sali, who has objected to Mexico's decision to open a consulate in Boise.

Sali singled out the matricula last month when he wrote to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice asking that the State Department delay approving the Boise consulate until his questions about the cards had been addressed.

"The congressman has deep concerns about the use of the cards by people who are in the United States illegally," said Sali's spokesman, Wayne Hoffman. "The cards are known to be used by people who are here illegally, to make their stay more comfortable and easier. We should not facilitate the willful breaking of U.S. law, and yet that's what these cards have been known to do."

Sali is seeking re-election to a second term. The Republican primary is Tuesday.

A spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in Washington said that the cards are most helpful for documented and undocumented Mexican migrants who need bank accounts.

"They are able to put their money in a bank account," said embassy spokesman Ricardo Alday. "They're able to go about their life without carrying cash, and they're also able to send money back to Mexico."

Many Mexicans in Idaho now travel to Salt Lake City to obtain the cards.

Last week, Sali continued to press the issue. His office sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff asking whether his agency had concerns about the use of matricula cards.

Homeland Security does not accept the matricula consular as valid identification at the U.S. border when Mexican citizens seek entry, said the agency's spokeswoman, Veronica Valdes.

"It's not something that we really accept for official purposes," Valdes said.

The FBI has taken a stronger stance.

"From a FBI or Department of Justice perspective, we have concluded that these cards are not a reliable form of identification due to the nonexistent means of identifying the true identity of the cardholder," said FBI spokesman Bill Carter. "It's also vulnerable to fraud. They're vulnerable to forgery. Even the newest version can be easily replicated."

Alday said that since reports that some matricula consular cards were being falsified, especially in the southern U.S., the Mexican government has been working to improve the security as well as the government database of cardholders.

"We have been taking steps ... to make our database more trustworthy," he said.

Other U.S. government departments have few objections to the cards, including the Treasury Department, which declined to take a position on them.

The Treasury Department said in 2002 that it is up to individual banks to determine whether they want to accept matricula consular cards, spokesman Brookly McLaughlin said.

Many banks have done so, said Carol Kaplan, a spokeswoman for the American Bankers Association. She said it is a business decision. The 2000 census showed that an estimated 13 percent of the U.S. population is Hispanic, and many of those people are Mexican, Kaplan said.

"That's 35 million people, at least it was in 2000," she said. "That certainly represents an audience for banks. We'd like to serve that audience."

Matricula consular are a fairly common form of identification within Mexico, too, said Rob McInturff, a State Department spokesman who formerly worked issuing visas in Monterrey, Mexico.

In Mexico, U.S. government officials wouldn't accept them as the only proof of identity when someone was applying for entry, McInturff said, but they were considered as part of an entire application along with other forms of identification, such as birth certificates.

Within the U.S., the State Department has no authority to restrict the Mexican government from issuing identification to its own citizens, McInturff said.

"In terms of using it, Mexican citizens are free to show it as a form of ID, and whoever they show it to, it would be up to the individual receiver," he said. "They can only use it if people accept it. If people don't accept it, then it's useless."

Many local governments accept them as identification when ID is needed, such as applying for a library card or utility services.

Efforts to prohibit the cards have been unsuccessful, even in border states where immigration is an overwhelming political issue. Last year, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, a Democrat, vetoed legislation that would have prohibited state and local governments from accepting the cards. At the time, Napolitano said it would hinder the ability of law enforcement to confirm the identities of foreign nationals.

However, since Sept. 11, many local governments have been more restrictive about issuing driver's licenses and require applicants to prove they are in this country legally.

The matricula consular are not valid identification to obtain a driver's license in Idaho, said Jeff Stratten, a spokesman for the Idaho Transportation Department.

http://www.idahostatesman.com/newsupdat ... 90961.html

A spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in Washington said that the cards are most helpful for documented and undocumented Mexican migrants who need bank accounts.

The point is that, as Sali notes, we should NOT be helping to make life easier for illegal aliens who use this unreliable form of identification to ship money illegally earned to Mexico.

Not only that, by giving the illegal aliens an official ID, they are legitimizing their presence here.

Originally Posted by tinybobidaho

Not only that, by giving the illegal aliens an official ID, they are legitimizing their presence here.

OMG So a Mexican can MAKE-UP an ID and call it an matricula (AKA registration) identification for Mexican citizens living in the U.S.? AND we accept here an a real ID? (except for Homeland security) Score 1 for Homeland Security. Who made that stupid crap up? How much are we suppose to put up with from this government or ours and theirs??

Here's a good link concerning thse fake ID's:
http://www.numbersusa.com/hottopic/matr ... nsular.htm

Many Mexicans in Idaho now travel to Salt Lake City to obtain the cards.

1. The Salt Lake consulate has a mobile consulate that can travel to Idaho.
2. To open a consulate on the basis of easing travel for illegal aliens, who aren't suppose to be in our country, is ludercrious. Legal immigrants don't need a matricula consular card.

A spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in Washington said that the cards are most helpful for documented and undocumented Mexican migrants who need bank accounts.

1. Legal immigrants do not need a matricula consular card to open a bank account.
2. Bank statements can be used as a form of residency proof to register to vote.

They are able to put their money in a bank account," said embassy spokesman Ricardo Alday. "They're able to go about their life without carrying cash, and they're also able to send money back to Mexico."

1. Mexicans carrying cash suggests they are paid in cash by-passing legal payrolls and such things as paying taxes.
2. Multiple matricula consular cards can be issued under various names since an easily forged birth certificate serves as proof for issuance.
3. The matricula consular card provides a bank account route for drug, weapons, and human smugglers to 'launder' money through wire transmittances back to Mexico and to the U.S.
4. Money sent back to Mexico does not stimulate the local economy.
5. If Mexicans can send money back to Mexico, they can pay their medical expenses and there is no need for free breakfast and lunches at schools.

Since matricula consular cards are issued in the U.S. the Mexican consulates should provide the U.S. government with a complete listing of names, ages, phone numbers, and addresses of those issued matricula consular cards for national security reasons at the least. They are being issued in the U.S. by a foreign government. Lack of openness and sharing information could lead one to question why the Mexican government wants a census of Mexican illegal aliens and contact information.

Within the U.S., the State Department has no authority to restrict the Mexican government from issuing identification to its own citizens, McInturff said.

1. Then we need a law prohibiting this.
2. Why doesn't the aiding, abetting and harboring illegal alien law prohibit issuing matricula consular cards since they open doors for illegal aliens?

Mexican consoluates also issue and renew passports.

1. Passports should be issued before one leaves their native land, not after.
2. Aren't passports considered valid identification to fly our airlines? So wouldn't passports allow illegal aliens access to air travel?
3. Aren't Mexican cartel and gang members terrorists?

Government corruption escapes no level in the Mexican government so why would consulates be any different?

1. A network of 50 consulates provides Mexican access to multiple localities under the cloak of legitimacy.
2. Wouldn't such a network be very beneficial to drug cartels, smugglers, and others with criminal intentions?
3. This existing network enables Mexican officials to engage in meddling in U.S. policies on local, state and national levels.
4. Issuing matricula consular cards expands the network of contacts.
5. Mexican consulates openly engage in political subversion of our country and disrespect our laws and sovereignty.
6. Mexican consulates are not being used for mutual diplomacy but rather to impose and inject Mexico's agenda and self-interests into America.


Why is the United States allowing the Mexican government to open new consulates? Why, in the name of national security and the war on drugs, isn't the United States closing Mexican consulates and limiting them to a reasonable number? Is not America being 'invaded' by a number of Mexican consulates?

"The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legislature cannot be convened) against domestic violence." Article IV Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution.

The Mexican consulate should be issuing PASSPORTS, not matricula consular cards. You can open a bank account with a passport (assuming that is the only reason they are issuing these bogus ID cards).

DID YOU GUYS KNOW THAT THE MC HAS A US ADDRESS????? Yup, just like our DL. The consulate is trying to make these illegals look legit by printing a US address. A passport has no address.

There's a comment section at the link. Most people seem to be against this new Consulate going in.

Originally Posted by tinybobidaho

There's a comment section at the link. Most people seem to be against this new Consulate going in.

Oh God, Tiny, are maliengus, brt929, and siagon there? They are a pack of wolves with zero manners and courtesy. They ruin all the forums with their hate.

Seems to me when the consulate determines a citizen to be here illegally, it should arrange transport to Mexico. Otherwise, it's prima facie evidence of a violation of US immigration laws. We ought to give them one notice to knock it off and if they violate the law just once, we ought to close all the consulates nationwide. If they protest, we ought to break off diplomatic relations with this enemy of the state. Their agenda is insidious but transparent to all but the libs.

Originally Posted by Tom2

Seems to me when the consulate determines a citizen to be here illegally, it should arrange transport to Mexico. Otherwise, it's prima facie evidence of a violation of US immigration laws. We ought to give them one notice to knock it off and if they violate the law just once, we ought to close all the consulates nationwide. If they protest, we ought to break off diplomatic relations with this enemy of the state. Their agenda is insidious but transparent to all but the libs.

Tom2, you are absolutely 150% CORRECT. Only illegals need these cards because they can't get our IDs. Legal Mexicans' first trip is to the DMV because a state DL trumps that bogus card any day.