(EFE) - Mexico plans to clear up U.S. State Department concerns regarding the identification document its consular offices are issuing Mexicans abroad, said a Cabinet official.
Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez made the announcement during a press conference at the conclusion of a seminar The Economist magazine sponsors each year in the Mexican capital.
"I'm going to talk to the State Department to see what they think - what they consider should be done - and see what doubts they have concerning our documents with regard to forgery, etc." Derbez said.
The FBI and the U.S. Homeland Security Department both concluded at the end of June that the Mexican consular ID "was not reliable" and could pose a risk to U.S. internal security.
The foreign minister said Mexico is willing to improve the document to provide the United States and Mexican nationals living there greater security.
"We're willing to improve the quality of the document if that gives everybody greater security. If we can improve the document, we will," Derbez emphasized.
Nevertheless, the official said that "the quality of the new ID meets the requirements established by all (U.S.) driver license or social security offices."
Note the ones used now are already accepted Mexican consulates in any case will continue issuing the consular IDs especially to illegal immigrants because, "that's a right established by the Vienna Convention and international legislation governing this issue," he stated.
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He noted that the new consular IDs replace the old documents and are more difficult to forge.
According to official estimates, at present there are some 25 million people of Mexican origin living in the United States.
Roughly nine million of these people were born in Mexico, and approximately four million of them are undocumented immigrants.
Conservative blocs in the U.S. Congress oppose the use of the consular documents as IDs, however. Derbez maintains that a ban on the use of Mexican consular IDs in the United States would "infringe upon norms established by the Vienna Convention regarding consular relations."
"We're open to continuing the necessary cooperation in order for the consular document to comply with the necessary requirements for domestic security - ours as well as that of the United States - but within our Vienna Convention rights," he insisted.
Last year, Mexico issued 1.04 million consular IDs, which are accepted by more than 800 U.S. towns and police departments and at least 122 banks and financial institutions. EFE
More importantly ... how did he get the care regsitered and inspected ?