Other consular IDs welcome (Los Angeles)

Los Angeles Daily News ^ | March 12, 2004 | James Nash

[calcowgirl]

Other consular IDs welcome
City officials like Mexican plan results, want to add other countries

Two years after accepting Mexican consulate identification cards as valid forms of identification in Los Angeles, city officials on Friday announced plans to accept ID cards from scores of other countries.

Amid concerns about security and encouraging illegal immigration, Los Angeles joined other Southwestern cities in 2002 in recognizing the Mexican photo identification card known as matricula consular .

Mayor James Hahn and Councilman Eric Garcetti said Friday that there have been no problems associated with the consular cards and that the city should extend recognition to IDs issued by other countries.

"We want to make sure that the most international city on the face of the Earth starts acting like the most international city on the face of the Earth," said Garcetti, who represents the Hollywood area.

The cards can be used to apply for library cards, municipal utility service and accounts at banks that take their cues from the city. They also will establish a person's identity with the Los Angeles Police Department.

Hahn signed an ordinance calling on city officials to develop safeguards toward accepting identification cards issued by 87 other countries that maintain consulates in Los Angeles.

Hahn said he wasn't sure how many other consulates would follow Mexico's lead in seeking recognition for their consular cards.

Hahn said the City Clerk's Office and Los Angeles Police Department will ensure that all forms of acceptable identification include safeguards similar to the photograph, hologram and magnetic strip in the matricula consular .

"We want to use that as the standard," Hahn said. "They will have to implement those standards, get certified by the city clerk and let them know it's a form of identification the city can have confidence in."

Officials from several foreign consulates praised the idea.

Ruben Beltran, the Mexican consul general in Los Angeles, said his office issued 120,000 consular IDs last year.

"No doubt the consular ID is the flagship of the services we render here in Los Angeles," Beltran said.

James Nash, (213) 978-0390 james.nash@dailynews.com

[DustyMoment]

Ah yes, the slippery slope of appeasement. Once you start, the yawning chasm at the bottom looks sooooo inviting.

So goes the Roman Empire, so goes the United States.

[Amerigomag]

Ouick solution to the "Los Angeles" problem.

Return school funding to pre 1960s formulas which basically places responsibilities on local districts to support their own schools.

Los Angeles Unified would dry up in less than a year and when the causes were examined, unregulated immigration would be at the bottom of the pile.

Los Angeles city officials would then face the inevitable decisions to back track on their policies.

[DumpsterDiver]

They [the matricula consular] also will establish a person's identity with the Los Angeles Police Department.

That all depends on which one of their cards they choose to show to the police.

"No doubt the consular ID is the flagship of the services we render here in Los Angeles," Beltran [the Mexican consul general in Los Angeles] said.

You got that right. They will get all "of the services we render here in Los Angeles" including the "service" of never reporting the illegals to the feds.