Thread: Texas: MORE THAN 2,000 WAIT TO APPLY FOR IDENTIFICATION

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?news ... 7937&rfi=6

06/24/2006
MORE THAN 2,000 WAIT TO APPLY FOR IDENTIFICATION
By RHIANNON MEYERS, Staff Writer


EDITOR'S NOTE: Some names have not been printed at the request of those involved.

She had already waited in line for four hours when the electricity went out, crashing the computer system that would print the identification card she's been waiting on for weeks.

The 19-year-old Mexican citizen, who did not wish to give her name, didn't complain. Instead, she calmly tapped a stack of papers against her hand and settled in for a wait that could last another 45 minutes. The Tyler Junior College nursing student said that she's used to the long and messy process of trying to appropriately identify herself.

She's waited for hours at the Mexican Consulate to halfway complete an application for an identification card and she's waited more than a year now for the government to process her citizenship application.

On Saturday, she was waiting in line with her husband and hundreds of other unregistered citizens as the Mexican Consulate from Dallas printed as many identification cards and passports as they could.

The woman, born in Mexico, has lived in Tyler her entire life. Like many others she wants an identification card so she can use it to travel easier back and forth to Mexico. Identification cards also help unregistered citizens more easily access-banking services, prove their identities and register their children in school.

"I just thought it would be helpful," she said.

Passports and "matriculas" (identification papers issued through the Mexican government) are recognized by law enforcement as accepted forms of identification.

The application process, normally offered through the consulate's Dallas office, is offered to make registration more convenient for people residing in East Texas.

More than 1,000 people showed up for last year's event. This year, Mexican citizens began showing up at 1:30 a.m. Saturday morning to get in a line that snaked around the Hispanic Service Center, located at 1111 E. Erwin Street.

Despite the more than 2,000 people who showed up, only between 500 and 700 applications could be processed, said Gilbert Urbina of the Hispanic American Association of East Texas.

Jeffrey Erickson, an immigration attorney, was on hand to field questions from the citizens. The most common inquiries?

"I get two types of questions, 'How can I get legal status?' and 'How can we speed up the process?'" he said.

Speeding up the process is almost impossible, Erickson said. For some, acquiring legal status could take between five and 20 years.

The large number of people who showed up on Saturday to get identification proves what a great need there is for this service in Tyler, Urbina said.

"Without identification, they're at a loss," he said.

Applicants were asked to bring a birth certificate, identification and proof of address, such as a utility bill. Background checks were conducted prior to issuance of a matricula and Mexican passport.

On Saturday, she was waiting in line with her husband and hundreds of other unregistered citizens as the Mexican Consulate from Dallas printed as many identification cards and passports as they could.

Can somebody explain what an "unregistered citizen" is?

I didn't realize that a citizen had to be registered.

On Saturday, she was waiting in line with her husband and hundreds of other unregistered citizens as the Mexican Consulate from Dallas printed as many identification cards and passports as they could.

Unregistered citizen=ILLEGAL ALIEN

It amazes me how the other sides is constantly working on new ways to word play to change the public image of these criminals. Illegal is illegal, and illegal alien is not undocumented worker, is not unregistered citizen, it is ILLEGAL ALIEN, it is CRIMINAL.

Mexico doesn't know who in the heck they are either!

Dixie

How could they do that many background checks that fast? What is this identification card?