Thread: ID: Mexican consulate set to open this year

Mexican consulate set to open this year
The Associated Press
Tuesday, June 10th, 2008
BOISE — A Mexican consulate is expected to open here within the next six months, despite an Idaho congressman’s plea to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice earlier this year to first guarantee the office wouldn’t aid illegal immigrants.

Supporters say the consulate will help serve a significant — and growing — Hispanic population in Idaho as it provides services to thousands of residents who have legal or family ties to Mexico and help make up state’s largest minority.

Mexico will have 50 consulates nationwide after sites in Idaho and Alaska were approved this year.

The offices are intended to help the country’s nationals with documentation, identification and banking services in the United States, but Rep. Bill Sali, R-Idaho, argues the agencies could provide identification cards, or consular cards, to illegal aliens and make it easier for them to receive government services or open up bank accounts.

A spokesman for the Mexican Embassy says consulates provide a number of services besides providing identification.

While consular cards provided by the office can be obtained by residents without U.S. legal documentation and many use them for banking purposes while sending money to family in Mexico, the misconception is that everyone who carries these pieces of identification is living here illegally, said Ricardo Alday, a Mexican Embassy spokesman in Washington, D.C.

Supporters see need for consulate

BOISE — Supporters of a new Mexican consulate expected to open in Boise in the next six months could serve many people living in Idaho.

The U.S. Census Bureau estimated this year that Hispanics make up 147,426 of Idaho’s

1.5 million residents.

Ricardo Alday, a Mexican Embassy spokesman in Washington, D.C., said the consulates in America promote business and cultural ties to Mexico, which bought nearly $140 million in exported goods from Idaho last year, according to the state Department of Agriculture.

Nampa immigration lawyer Jayme Beaber sees as many as three clients a day at the Coffel and Anthon law firm in southwestern Idaho and said a Boise consulate will provide much-needed services to Mexican nationals. “I don’t necessarily foresee that bringing more undocumented people to the area,â€

[quote]“I don’t necessarily foresee that bringing more undocumented people to the area,â€

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