The hottest item now available at 46 Mexican consuls in the United States is the "matricula consular", or consular card, an official Mexican ID granted by the Mexican government to Mexicans living in the United States.
What exactly is a "consular card"?
Although the card can be accepted in lieu of a Mexican passport when returning to Mexico, it is not a Mexican passport. A Mexican passport is granted in Mexico to Mexicans planning to travel outside of Mexico. Mexicans who travel legally to the U.S. take out passports before they ever leave Mexico. Therefore they already have their ID.
Those who apply for consular cards, however, apply when they are already in the U.S. Hmmmm.....
The cards have been accepted as valid by the Wells Fargo Bank and by the police chiefs of Orange County, who on November 7th, "secretly met and unanimously approved a policy that encourages officers to accept cards issued by the Mexican government as identification for people stopped for minor offenses."
The Mexican consul at Santa Ana, California, attempts to reassure us by asserting that "The card has enough information to identify the person. It has nothing to do with immigration and the INS."
If you believe that, I have some office space in the World Trade Center I'd like to sell you.
No doubt that the Mexican consular card, which has existed for a couple of decades now, has some legitimate purpose. But nowadays its main function, as far as the Mexican government is concerned, is to prevent the deportation of Mexican illegal aliens from the U.S.
That, in fact, is exactly what the Siglo, a Mexican newspaper, has reported. An article dated November 5th, 2001, written by Monica Solis, the Siglo's correspondent in Los Angeles, California, couldn't be clearer.
Ms. Solis bemoans the plight of Mexican illegal aliens in the U.S. who are jailed for misdemeanors and then deported without due process:
Thus various immigrants have wound up being deported because of a traffic violation when they don't have a driver's license or valid ID.
But not to worry, help is on the way! The article continues:
The frequent deportation of Mexicans for lack of an ID card can become a thing of the past, with the approval of an initiative that proposes the acceptance of the matricula consular (issued by the Mexican government through its consulates in the entire country), as an official identification document for police authorities when they detain or intercept Mexicans.
So the Mexican government is distributing these consular cards, on American soil, with the specific purpose of preventing the deportation of Mexican illegal aliens.
And the leadership of Orange County's law enforcement agencies is in direct collusion with the Mexican government.
According to the Orange County Register,
Laguna Beach Police Chief Jim Spreine, president of the Orange County Police Chiefs and Sheriff's Association, said the agencies want to dispel fears that deportation is possible in any police contact.
Well, thanks for reassuring the illegal aliens on that score!
Chief Spreine had more to say:
Some people seem to think that by doing this, we're supporting illegal immigration. That's not the case. The fact is, all the people we serve should be given equal protection under the law, and we believe this will help us provide that equal protection.
Interesting, Chief Spreine. And exactly who are the people you "serve", anyway?
Somehow I have the sneaking suspicion that all police officers in Orange County are not in agreement with their bosses on this matter. On Sunday, November 11th, at the St. Boniface Church in Anaheim, the police department's Community Affairs officer, Mike Hidalgo was at the receiving end of a public meeting in which the inalienable right of illegal Mexicans not to be deported was asserted. According to the LA Times,
More than 260 residents took their concerns straight to Anaheim police, telling....Hidalgo their biggest fear: They don't want to be deported for a minor traffic violation simply because they don't have proper identification.
Reina Gonzalez summed it all up by saying that
The undocumented community fears every time the police stop them.
Oh really? Imagine that!
Sgt. Hidalgo was nothing if not conciliatory, however, reassuring "the undocumented community" that, not to worry,
Anaheim police, along with law enforcement agencies throughout Orange County, will accept cards issued by the Mexican government as a proper form of identification during police stops.
Surreal, bizarre, and yet another example of the conquest of California in action. Now the Mexican government, not U.S. officials, decides who is legal and who is not.
And what about the INS? Surely they must be livid over the recent decision of the Orange County to turn immigration policy over to the Mexican consulates?
Far from it! The INS spokesman for the LA district said that "Our priorities are to go after illegal immigrants committing crime. If they are law-abiding citizens, we don't have the resources to go looking for them."
VDARE.COM emphasis. Of course, THEY'RE NOT CITIZENS - law-abiding or otherwise! But apparently the INS has lost sight of this distinction. And finding and deporting illegal aliens is not a priority unless they have committed a felony.
Hmmm. Isn't that the same policy the government had before the 9/11 attack? Nobody deported Mohammed Atta and company either - until it was too late.
Allan Wall is an American citizen who has lived and worked in Mexico since 1991. Presently employed as an English instructor, Allan has legal permission from the Mexican government to live and work in Mexico under the rubric of an FM-2 migration document. His VDARE.COM articles are archived here; his Frontpage.com articles are archived here. Allan Wall welcomes questions or comments (pro or con) at allan39@prodigy.net.mx.
November 13, 2001
