QuoteThe Matrícula Consular ("Consular Registration") is an identification card issued by the Government of Mexico through its consulate offices. The official purpose of the card is to demonstrate that the bearer is a Mexican national living outside of Mexico. Similar consulate identification cards are issued to citizens of Argentina, Colombia, El Salvador, and Honduras [1].

In the United States, several states, municipalities, and businesses have started accepting the Matrícula Consular as an official form of identification. This practice is controversial, and is often opposed by critics of illegal immigration. These critics often state that a passport suffices as proper identification for anyone temporarily in the country.

A Mexican national legally residing in the United States would already have a valid Mexican passport and a Valid U.S. Visa, or a U.S.-issued "Green Card" (I-551 form), and therefore, the "Matricula Consular" card would not be necessary.

U.S. law enforcement officials also cite that "Matricula Consular" cards are issued by Mexican Consulate without checking the authenticity of the applicant's supporting documentation. Mexican nationals often provide a birth certificate to Mexican Consulates in order to obtain the "Matricula Consular" card. Mexican birth certificates are easily forged and can be purchased on the black market for a few dollars. In fact, anti-illegal immigration activist D.A. King, a U.S. citizen, has obtained three Matrículas with his picture, and has widely publicized one of them across the internet to illustrate the problems he sees with the document. The card in question bears the name "Al Qaida Gonzalez."[1] Bruce DeCell, a retired New York City police officer who lost a son-in-law in 9/11, obtained a forged Matrícula with his name, and successfully used it as identification to enter the headquarters of the Department of Homeland Security. DeCell's card, which he obtained from a street vendor in California, gives his address as "123 Fraud Blvd." in "Staton Island", New York, and his birthplace as "Tijiuna", B.C.[2]

U.S. Federal and local drug enforcement agents have discovered that numerous illegal alien, Mexican national narcotics traffickers obtain "Matricula Consular" cards under the names of aliases and that their use in the United States presents the U.S. with a serious criminal threat.[2]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matricula_Consular

Posted for discussion. I don't know much about it, and would like to hear what others may think or know.  Apparently it's an "official" ID issued by the Mexican government to its citizens living abroad that many illegals may be using to obtain goods and services.

I don't care a bit what Mexico thinks is good identification. If you're in the U.S., have a U.S. document or passport.

Any mexican with one of these and no other ID should be sent back to mexico istantly, and forced to pay the expenses.

No money? Then you work on the wall between the US and mexico, chain gang style, until you've paid the cost.

We were told by an OLCC representative at my former employer not to recognize them as valid ID, because they're so easily bought fraudulently down there.  

I don't have a problem with the idea per se, because I'm not Mr. Xenophobe about immigration issues, but I do have a problem with it if the security is too poor to consider the thing worth the paper it's printed on.

One way to get Mexico to clean that program up is to send them a bill for services rendered to each person using the card as identification, but we would rather build a giant fucking wall than actually try and fix the problem.

Quote from: RockViperOne way to get Mexico to clean that program up is to send them a bill for services rendered to each person using the card as identification, but we would rather build a giant fucking wall than actually try and fix the problem.

Close - our solution is to say, amid great fanfare and signaturing, that we're commiting $X billion to build a fence, and then not do it and hope nobody notices.

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

If you experience any problems with your Statue of Liberty (or any product from the 'Revolutionary Fervour' line of goods) please call this number.
1-800-NOMEXICONO.

Quoting Socialist poetry carries little water with me, sorry. The people who came during that wave of immigration followed the law and were made citizens of this country. They WANTED to become citizens of this country. That's why they came here. They didn't just pile into cars and drive across the border with no intention of becoming Americans, no intention of obeying the laws of this land (starting with being here illegally), and then complaining that they were being discriminated against. They worked hard to build businesses and lives here, instead of sending so much money back to their homeland (note - not the US, but their homeland) that it became a major source of the GNP of said homeland.

Here's a little taste of the future.

http://www.laweekly.com/general/features/the-town-the-law-forgot/15731/

Its not exactly Germantown, or Irishtown, or Little Italy, now is it? More like Gangs of New York - and I'd think we all agree that's not a good thing.

Legal immigrants will find no quarrel with me, but the ILLEGAL (that word still has meaning, right?) aliens - I have no sympathy for them, not one scrap. And for the record, that goes for any of them, not just the ones with brown skin. There happens to be orders of magnitude more of them than any others.

What he said.

Quote from: WerekoalaQuoting Socialist poetry carries little water with me, sorry. The people who came during that wave of immigration followed the law and were made citizens of this country. They WANTED to become citizens of this country. That's why they came here. They didn't just pile into cars and drive across the border with no intention of becoming Americans, no intention of obeying the laws of this land (starting with being here illegally), and then complaining that they were being discriminated against. They worked hard to build businesses and lives here, instead of sending so much money back to their homeland (note - not the US, but their homeland) that it became a major source of the GNP of said homeland.

Here's a little taste of the future.

http://www.laweekly.com/general/features/the-town-the-law-forgot/15731/

Its not exactly Germantown, or Irishtown, or Little Italy, now is it? More like Gangs of New York - and I'd think we all agree that's not a good thing.

Legal immigrants will find no quarrel with me, but the ILLEGAL (that word still has meaning, right?) aliens - I have no sympathy for them, not one scrap. And for the record, that goes for any of them, not just the ones with brown skin. There happens to be orders of magnitude more of them than any others.

100% right. :win:

Umm, dude, the feelings about Mexican-americans today, legal or illegal (the whole argument is just a kind of veiled excuse, from what I see) is virtually identical to the feelings there used to be about the Italians, and the Irish before them, and the Germans before those...

And with the same kind of justifications; waves of immigration ALWAYS bring growing pains, local gangs, conflicts, poverty, fear of lost jobs, etc etc.  Some of those concerns are even legitimate, but they are also all issues that resolve themselves within a generation or so, as the kids of immigrants end up feeling more "american" than "x", and economic opportunities and cultural opportunities for integration develop for the new group.  Not to mention that some other massive wave of immigration happens, and the last bunch suddenly feel like the "familiar guys", who are right there along with you bitching these new foreigners coming to "steal our jobs" and "raise crime".

That's part of the American identity for you.  Just remember that its this cultural adaptability that has made America the incredible success that it is.  Some of the proposals floating around right now, like not automatically granting birth-right citizenship to children of non-citizens born inside US territory, could instead lead to the creation of a permanent underclass that would never be allowed to integrate. That would be really disastrous.

RPGPundit

Man, I could not possibly agree more with what you just said Pundit.  Literally, that's exactly how I feel about immigration issues, and well stated to boot.

Quote from: RPGPunditUmm, dude, the feelings about Mexican-americans today, legal or illegal (the whole argument is just a kind of veiled excuse, from what I see) is virtually identical to the feelings there used to be about the Italians, and the Irish before them, and the Germans before those...

And with the same kind of justifications; waves of immigration ALWAYS bring growing pains, local gangs, conflicts, poverty, fear of lost jobs, etc etc.  Some of those concerns are even legitimate, but they are also all issues that resolve themselves within a generation or so, as the kids of immigrants end up feeling more "american" than "x", and economic opportunities and cultural opportunities for integration develop for the new group.  Not to mention that some other massive wave of immigration happens, and the last bunch suddenly feel like the "familiar guys", who are right there along with you bitching these new foreigners coming to "steal our jobs" and "raise crime".

That's part of the American identity for you.  Just remember that its this cultural adaptability that has made America the incredible success that it is.  Some of the proposals floating around right now, like not automatically granting birth-right citizenship to children of non-citizens born inside US territory, could instead lead to the creation of a permanent underclass that would never be allowed to integrate. That would be really disastrous.

RPGPundit

Ahhh, this is more like it, a typical pile of ignorant bullshit that I'm used to from pundit. Good, reading posts where he was right about things was giving me near heart attacks from shock, and having to agree with him filled me with self loathing, but now things are back on track.

There are some major, and I mean *M*A*J*O*R* differences between italian, german, irish, etc immigrants and the swarms of invaders scuttling into america from messico.

First, the european migrants came here LEGALLY, and were screened, tested,  followed the rules on getting here, etc. Ones with criminal records, contagious diseases, etc, were turned away. The invaders coming up from messico do so ilegally and are therefore not screened for criminal records, diseases like resistant TB, etc.

Also, the european immigrants mostly came here to become americans. They learned english, they adapted to america. The invaders coming in from messico don't want to be bothered to learn english, they expect america to become a bilingual country for their convenience and want to bring their culture up here, imposing it on those of us who are here already.

There are major differences between the european imigrants and the messican invaders, up to and including the fact that messico is openly practicing what it calls "La reconquista" of texas and claifornia by sending swarms of illegal invaders up here to essentially recolonize those areas and turn them into messican terriroty be default.

European immigrants came to america legally to become americans. The messican invaders are coming here ilegally to impose their culture, language and values on america, and that's why they're not immigrants, theyre invaders.

Dude, at most points in the U.S. history, the conditions for acquiring citizenship were ridiculously lax.  Assuming you didn't have the plague, you were in. They were desperate for people, any people, by the boatload (literally).

Also, just about every dumbass thing you just said, was said about the Italians, and the Irish before them.  

"The Irish will do for a nickel what a negro would do for a dime, and what a real american used to get a quarter to do".

The accusations of "they don't want to learn our language", they don't want to adopt our culture, etc etc. were all constant accusations against the italians, germans, poles, and Irish. Ditto with "they won't adopt our culture":  "The Irish will vote for who the Archbishop tells them to vote for... and who tells the Archbishop? That king with the pointy hat what sits on his throne in Rome..".

America has always been the place of shelter and new opportunities for immigrants, and for just as long it has been the place of the so-called "natives" expressing paranoia and fear over the new wave of "foreigners" coming to "their" land.

RPGPundit

QuoteAmerica has always been the place of shelter and new opportunities for immigrants, and for just as long it has been the place of the so-called "natives" expressing paranoia and fear over the new wave of "foreigners" coming to "their" land.

I also find a certain sort of hypocrisy in it, given that unless you're Native American, it never was "your land", and you're just as much of an immigrant as the rest of us, there's just a variable number of generations since whenever your particular family first landed..