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Tuesday, November 1, 2005

Mexican ID Card Helps Immigrants in U.S.

By Andrew Webb
Journal Staff Writer
    Every week or so, Mari Monge brings an immigrant to the Mexican Consulate, near Downtown Albuquerque.
    It is the only place in the state where, for $35, one can apply for access to many of the services U.S. citizens enjoy every day.
    Monge, a home health care provider in Roswell, said she does it because she already knows the ropes of the system, and why the matricula consular identification card is so important to immigrants, whether legal or illegal.
    "They need it to get their driver's license, to pay their bills, to get a place to stay," Monge said during a recent visit to the Consulate with a companion who was seeking a card.
    The matricula consular card is a Mexican identification card available to anyone with a Mexican birth certificate, proof of address and some government-issued photo identification. Officially, it is designed to help Mexican citizens prove their identity.
    But, increasingly, the green, red and white card has become a passport to the modern U.S. economy— many banks accept the card as legal ID, offering mortgages, auto loans and other services. Motor vehicle departments in more than a dozen states, including New Mexico, accept the card as legal identification for driver's license applicants.
    "I need it to look for an apartment," said Paulina Reyes, who was waiting in the crowded Consulate with her 6-year-old son.
    That has led many anti-immigration groups to charge the card provides a legal loophole and further encourages illegal immigration by "legitimizing" undocumented immigrants.
    Since its current form, created in 2002 as a wallet-sized, plastic card, the local Consulate has issued at least 45,000 matricula consular cards, said deputy consul Alberto Bernal.
    But that doesn't necessarily mean all recipients were illegal immigrants, says Mexican consul Juan M. Solana, who is based in Albuquerque.
    Solana says half the applicants provide as photo identification so-called "green cards," permits to live and work in the U.S. that are usually given out by lottery selection.
    A 2005 congressional report cited Mexican figures stating some 4 million Mexicans in the U.S. had the matricula consular card.
    About 178 financial institutions and nearly 1,200 police departments accept the card, according to government figures cited by the North County Times, a San Diego-area newspaper.
    Solana brushes off criticism from anti-immigration groups that the matricula consular cards are "sham IDs" that legitimize illegal immigrants.
    The Consulate issues the cards to help people "prove they are who they say they are" for security purposes, Solana says, adding that his agency has the enthusiastic support of police and other law enforcement agencies.
    "We're seeing more and more of them now," said Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White. "It definitely helps us to have some understanding of who we're dealing with."
    Previously, he says, deputies arresting Mexican immigrants frequently had "absolutely nothing" to go on for positive identification.
    "We have a great relationship with the Consulate," he said.
    That the cards are increasingly accepted by businesses is an added benefit, though not the Consulate's main concern, Solana said.
    "You don't want to do business with John Doe," he notes. "The matricula, what it's doing, is helping businesses and authorities know who they're dealing with."
    The cards are not endorsed by the United States in any way, and the Mexican Consulate makes no effort to learn of applicants' status here.
    Solana's official statement is, "I don't know any illegal immigrants."
    "For us, anyone who comes in here, we're just asking for proof of Mexican citizenship and residence (in the Consulate's district)," he says.
    The Mexican Consulate has about 60 offices around the country.
    They act as somewhat of a safehouse for immigrants. The Border Patrol doesn't ask for lists of matricula consular applicants, and the Consulate, which doesn't answer to the U.S. government, wouldn't release those records if they were requested, Solana says.
    On a recent morning, more than 50 people waited inside and on the sidewalk at the Consulate near Downtown as its small staff processed applications.
    Ruben Ponce-Gonzalez, from Juchipila, Zacatecas, Mexico, said he had been in the U.S. for about six months.
    He needed the card to get a good job, he said, adding that he, his wife, and his quiet toddler daughter, Ximena, had waited in line six hours for his card.

E-MAIL Journal Staff Writer Andrew Webb