Christine Hall, CNSNews.com
Wed. January 15, 2003

"You had zero leadership from the Bush administration or from any federal officials about the dire consequences of ... state and local governments treating these documents as credible," said David Ray, spokesman for the group, Fairness for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).

There is "no way we're ever going to get a handle on illegal immigration or have a real sense of national security until we can get a handle on who's coming and leaving the country," Ray said.

The Mexican government issues an identification document called the "matricula consular" to Mexican citizens who are in the U.S. Many financial institutions, like Wells Fargo, accept the IDs for purposes of, say, opening a bank account. And just this month, at the request of U.S. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), the Phillip Burton Federal Building in San Francisco began accepting the matricula to allow Mexicans into the building to conduct business with the IRS.

Mireya Magana, a spokesperson for the Mexican Embassy, said the matriculas are a valuable tool for Mexicans residing in the U.S. But she declined to address points made by critics like FAIR.

"It's very old, actually; it was started in the 1900s," said Magana. "It was basically to have a register of the Mexicans that live near a specific consulate. So we know and we keep in touch with the Mexican that live in the area, so you can help them ... whenever there is some cultural issue or when they celebrate Independence Day, they know where to contact other Mexicans."

But in 2001, said Magana, the matricula got a new "security mechanism" to make them difficult to falsify. Now, she said, banks "can be very sure that this person is really who they say it is ... so it gives some comfort to the banks."

Passports remain a valid form of ID, but Magana said people don't like them as well because they are bigger and bulkier to carry around than the matricula.

Tim Counts, spokesman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service, said the government is unconcerned about matriculas.

"We deal with immigration issues, with identity documents that relate to immigration status," Counts explained. "And because the metricula consular card is not a document that has any bearing on one's immigration status or on immigration issues, we really don't have a position on this."

Ivan Eland, defense policy analyst with the Washington, D.C.-based Cato Institute, dismissed concerns expressed by FAIR and other such groups.

"They're jumping on the bandwagon like everyone else and claiming a national security reason for doing something," Eland charged, like the president saying that bee subsidies were needed for national security or others railing against fat in food because "kids will get fat and won't be good soldiers."

"These IDs may be a questionable practice," Eland conceded. But "if the Mexican government is issuing ... the IDs, you wouldn't think the Mexican government would be issuing those IDs to terrorists.

One never knows how a government might be incompetent or corrupt, said Eland. "But I don't see a real security problem here. The vast majority of Mexicans come here, behave well and work hard to send money home, etc."

"When we see a lot of Mexicans abusing these and committing terrorist acts, then I suppose there's a problem with it," said Eland. "But we haven't seen that."

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