Posted on 10/09/2002 5:10:29 AM PDT by Tancred
A man and woman walk into a school and present their "matricula consular" to the principal and ask to enroll their child at the school. Like many people in Clayton County, the principal doesn't know what the card is and tells the couple he cannot accept it as a form of identification. That's why the Latin American Association of Atlanta is encouraging county and city governments to accept the "matricula consular," an identification card issued by the Mexican consulate to Mexican citizens living in the United States. Many immigrants are in the process of adjusting their status with the Immigration and Naturalization Services, LAA Executive Director Luce Borrero said, and that process can last for months or years.
"In the meantime, people need to do simple things like register their children at school, pick up their children at school," Borrero said. "We cannot keep people in limbo during that process." While DeKalb County recently voted to accept the matricular consular, the Forest Park City Council went against the recommendations of Forest Park Police Chief Dwayne Hobbs and voted not to accept the card.
"I felt like it would be an encouragement, that if we in the city endorsed this (members of the Latin American community in the city) would be inspired to go get this," Hobbs said. "There are a significant number who don't have acceptable identification." Forest Park Councilwoman Debbie Youmans said she voted against accepting the card because she was concerned about debates in Congress and in Dekalb County over the use of the card. Other police departments expressed concerns about the card as well. Along with concerns that the cards could be easily counterfeited, Riverdale police Officer Russell Rogers said they could not be used to gather information on the person holding the card through the Georgia Criminal Information Center.
"We have to run it through INTERPOL and that can take months if you get a response at all," Rogers said. However, Clayton County and Lake City police accept the card if the information on them is correct. "There's a whale of a laundry list (provided by the U.S. State Department) of cards that are acceptable in the United States," Lake City Police Chief Ross Gardner. "If it's issued by a government then I'm relatively comfortable with it." The matricula consular is a very reliable form of identification, said Carmen Rojas-Rafter, director of the LAA's Forest Park office. "The Mexican Consulate goes through a rigorous process before they issue one," Rojas-Rafter said, adding that applicants must provide two forms of identification from Mexico that are verified. According to the information presented on the agenda for the Forest Park work session on the resolution to accept the card, 798 police departments around the country, 61 banks and financial institutions and the Georgia Vital Records Office accept the matricula consular as an official form of identification. The cards are needed because they also provide a reliable emergency contact for the holder in case they are in an accident, Rojas-Rafter said. Private agencies can still accept the card despite Forest Park's decision, she said, but "they're less likely to unless it's a trend." The only other South American country that issues similar identification cards is Guatemala, but other countries are beginning to consider the process.
"But I think they're all waiting to see the acceptance," Rojas-Rafter said. She believes many people might feel like accepting the card is a "slippery slope" that would encourage more illegal immigrants to come to Georgia. The problem is that illegal immigrants are already here and are not identified by any means. "They want to talk about homeland security, this is the best form," she said.
Does that mean "Proof I'm paying my share of the property or other taxes that fund this school" or does it mean "I'm a freeloader"?
What a joke. This is Mexico's way of saying who can be in our country ---they will decide. Letting the most corrupt government in the world decide who can enter the US is insane.
It means "I'm a Mexican national and therefore what's yours is mine."
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