Getcher Illegal Alien ID Card Here!
I mentioned the "matricular counsular" yesterday, but clicking past the the Raleigh (NC) News and Observer web site this morning I spotted a picture of illegal alliens lined up to get one. It's the teaser for a feature with the title, ID Cards Open Doors: Matricula consular helps new residents prove identity, obtain services. Hmm ... new residents lack identity and services, must find out more.

Since it is the Snooze and Deceiver, I didn't need to read the subtitle to know that it isn't going to be too forthcoming about how a Mexican government document has been conjured up to allow illegals to hop on the US gravy train, but let's see what David Olson, Staff Writer, has to say:

RALEIGH - Gilberto Cerron, like dozens who line up at the Mexican Consulate each weekday, came to buy a red-hot item: the matricula consular, a card that makes it easier for Mexican nationals to open bank accounts, get driver's licenses and seek social services.

"Mexican nationals" in this context are illegal aliens who aren't supposed to be here, much less entitled to these "social services". Legal aliens and immigrants already have documentation. And thanks to Bubba's Motor Voter law, I wonder how many illegals forget that they aren't supposed to vote?

"I had heard of it before, but I didn't know how important it was," said Cerron, 34, a Mexican immigrant who lives in Reidsville.

Word has spread among Mexican immigrants of how useful the card can be.

In the first six months of this year, the Raleigh consulate issued 7,813 matriculas, nearly four times as many as during the first six months of 2001. About three-quarters of the people who crowd the consulate each weekday are there to get the card. Nationally, Mexican consulates issued nearly 500,000 in the first half of this year.

Paging the INS! Target rich environment outside all Mexican Consulates!

But I'll hold my horses. We haven't yet heard from the politicians in search of "clients".

The card's profile is also rising as more local governments, police departments and banks accept it as an official ID. Carrboro aldermen unanimously voted to do so in June, joining cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Houston.

The card helps undocumented immigrants in particular because they are unlikely to have another photo ID with a U.S. address, Carrboro Alderman John Herrera said.

Obviously a rocket scientist. Actually with all the ID fraud, they probably have more photo ID's than I do.

Carrboro's resolution will make it easier for Mexicans living in Carrboro to get residents' discounts for parks programs and will help police verify the identity of Mexicans who report crimes or are suspects, he said.

I wouldn't want any illegal aliens to miss out on parks programs.

In June, state Sen. Daniel Clodfelter, a Charlotte Democrat, introduced a bill that would encourage law enforcement and other government agencies in North Carolina to accept the matricula as identification and would allocate $25,000 to educate agencies about the card. The bill is in committee.

"It doesn't grant legal residency. It doesn't confer rights or benefits," Clodfelter said. "It's just a good, useful identification document."

Sorta like a passport and visa, eh Clod?

Uh Oh! Time for the obligatory negative quote:

But not everyone thinks the card is a good idea.

The Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates greater restrictions on immigration, criticizes the Mexican government for issuing the card and local governments and banks in the United States for accepting them.

"Really, the whole purpose of this card is to circumvent U.S. immigration law," said Steven Camarota, the center's research director.

"It sort of institutionalizes illegality and conveys that we are just not serious about our laws."

No kidding, but corporate whores smell money.

Some major banks don't agree.

Durham-based Central Carolina Bank began accepting the matricula at all of its 263 branches in the Carolinas in May, and Charlotte-based Bank of America began taking it nationwide in June.

"This is a way for an underbanked, underserved population to access our services and to learn to trust us," said Gillian Breidenbach, a Bank of America spokeswoman. Many immigrants have never had a bank account and keep their money at home, she said.

Underbanked and underserved - the horror! I wonder how they discuss this in their annual report - "Your Company is pursuing a new growth market, scofflaws!" ?

"I've heard of people who have been assaulted after leaving work with a lot of money," said Cerron, who tried to open a bank account four months ago but didn't have a North Carolina ID. "It's less risky having money in a bank."

A problem that would be obviated if you and your employer weren't breaking the law.

Cerron, who works in a clothing factory, also wants to use his matricula to get a driver's license and car insurance.

I just know he took a cab to the consulate.

The state Division of Motor Vehicles likes the card because it proves the holder lives in North Carolina, said Wayne Hurder, DMV's director of driver's license certification. And, because foreign nationals must pass a driving test, making it easier for Mexicans to get a license makes the state's roads safer, he said.

Safer than none of them being here and on the road?

But wait! This is a high tech document which is only awarded after rigorous scrutiny by the crack office staff at the consulates!

The matricula is white and gray and looks something like a driver's license. It includes the person's photo, local address and date and place of birth. Later this month, the Raleigh consulate will begin issuing Mexico's new, green version that is more difficult to forge.

The Mexican government requires matricula applicants to provide an original birth certificate and a copy, a Mexican or U.S. photo ID and a document -- such as a utility bill --with a local address.

Proving that no nonsensical idea goes unrewarded, the closer is:

Other Latin American governments have noticed the card's popularity among Mexicans. Guatemala approved a similar ID in June and plans to begin issuing it at its consulates Thursday, said Ana Villacorta, spokeswoman for the Guatemalan Embassy. The closest Guatemalan Consulate to Raleigh is in Washington.

Honduras and El Salvador also are considering issuing similar cards, officials with those two countries' embassies said.

El Salvador began looking into the idea two years ago, said Rene Leon, the country's ambassador in Washington. But it put off plans for the card after the U.S. government made most Salvadorans in the United States eligible for "temporary protected status" -- allowing them to stay in the United States -- after their homeland was devastated by earthquakes in 2001. The status was recently extended until September 2003.

And, Leon said, because many of those who would benefit from a matricula are undocumented, and about 95 percent of Salvadorans in the United States are here legally, the need to issue a Salvadoran version is not as urgent.

A rainbow of documentation for illegal aliens from every grease spot on the map - that ought to simplify things.

Elbonian philospher and pleased to meet you, I am! Here my Elbonian consular card is! Where are services?

I'm surprised the UN hasn't got in on this racket.