The Mexican matricula consular card is a “worthless form of identification that is being used by criminals to hide their true identities,” says John D. Marlborough, a U.S. Border Patrol official in Southern California, in a recent letter to the San Bernardino County Sheriff. The letter, urging the Sheriff not to accept the matricula card as a valid form of identification, charges that border patrol agents frequently encounter illegal immigrants possessing more than one valid “matricula” and recently came across a Mexican who “had in his possession 7 matriculas,” all with his picture but different names. Agents eventually learned that the Mexican national was in fact an alien smuggler with a long criminal history.
“Law enforcement agencies have been sold a bill of goods by the Mexican government, which has convinced them that matricula cards are being issued only after a person’s identity has been verified,” said Dan Stein, executive director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). “What is much more certain is that a person presenting a matricula card without a valid immigration document, is in fact an illegal alien and is violating federal law by being here.”
The issue is of growing importance in states with large populations of Mexican illegal immigrants. There are currently two bills before the California legislature that would mandate state-wide acceptance of the matricula card. The first bill, AB 522, requires “every city and county officer and employee” to accept the matricula card as “equivalent to a driver’s license or identification card issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles.” The second bill, AB 25, would require state agencies to accept identification cards issued by any nation as “valid identification for a person.”
On the heels of Mexico’s success with the acceptance of the cards, Guatemala, Peru, China, Honduras and El Salvador are poised to issue the cards to their illegal alien citizens as well, enabling them to establish their identities, open bank accounts, transfer money, and board airplanes. “The acceptance of these cards as valid ID is an invitation to terrorism and organized crime and absolutely endangers the lives and safety of the American public,” added Stein.
The Mexican government has been pushing state and local governments in the U.S. to accept the matricula card as a valid identity document, arguing that it allows Mexican citizens, most of whom are illegal aliens, to at least establish their true identities to police and authorities. But those who issue the cards are failing to ensure that the documents are valid or are issuing the cards without backup documentation at all. Marlborough charges that Mexicans who lack any proof of identification\ are merely asked to “simply fill out a questionnaire” and the matricula card will be issued, as long as the Mexican government official is “satisfied that the person is who they say they are.” The card is then issued for a nominal $29 fee, which has become a valuable source of income for Mexican government operations in the U.S.
