By Elton Gallegly
Although there are a number of reasons for not accepting foreign-issued identification cards as legitimate ID in the United States, terrorism and the post-9-11 world stands at the top of the list.
Mexican consulates began mass distribution of matricula consulars—identification cards issued by the Mexican government to illegal immigrants in the United States—just more than a year ago. They gained favor among illegal immigrants when banks began to accept the cards as legitimate identification to open bank accounts. Then local governments began to accept them as legitimate identification as well.
Let’s be clear: The only people who need these cards are illegal immigrants, criminals and terrorists, and no one denies this fact.
If we accept identification issued by Mexico as legitimate in the United States, where does it stop? And what protections do we have against terrorists taking advantage of the program when we’ve turned over to foreign governments our sovereign right to identify people within our borders?
The proof that those concerns are well-founded comes in the form of a May 3 cable from the U.S. Embassy in Nicaragua to the State Department in Washington, D.C. The cable outlines discussions between the embassy and the Nicaraguan government on Nicaragua’s plans to develop a consular identification program in the United States similar to Mexico’s.
Nicaraguan Consular Affairs Director Miriam Fonseca admitted to embassy officials that illegal immigrants would most likely use the card and that the cards would be issued at consular offices in the United States “on the spot.” Most troublesome was the criteria Nicaragua would use to establish the identity of anyone seeking a card.
Under Nicaraguan law, a person’s identity can be established without any documents. All it takes is the testimony of two witnesses to say the person is who he says he is.
“The same ‘witness’ process will be applied to the issuance of consular ID cards,” the embassy cable states.
To say that’s an enormous loophole is an enormous understatement.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see how easily a terrorist could persuade two people to vouch for his identity.
Mexico, Nicaragua and other countries trying to expand their consular ID programs in the United States are doing so in an effort to force a de facto amnesty for their nationals illegally in this country and to allow them to receive services to which they are not entitled.
And, while it’s true that the vast majority—99.9999 percent, perhaps—of those seeking the cards are not terrorists, it is equally true that terrorists are certainly watching this program to see how they may exploit it.
Already reports have surfaced in Ventura County that scoundrels are selling counterfeit Mexican consular ID cards door to door.
Equally disturbing is that our government is actively supporting these programs. State Department representatives admitted in a congressional briefing that the department helped Mexico design its program. And the embassy cable explicitly asks the State Department for guidance.
Giving up our sovereign rights during a time of war is foolhardy and irresponsible.
Last year Congress passed, and the president signed into law, the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act, which greatly tightens the integrity of visas and other entry documents.
Then, in response to the growing acceptance of the matricula consular, I authored and introduced the Identification Integrity Act of 2003. With the exception of passports—which are issued under strict guidelines provided by the U.S.—it would forbid the federal government’s recognition of foreign-issue IDs.
I am also working on other legislation to close this loophole for terrorists and de facto amnesty for illegal immigrants.
The price is just too high not to end this practice now.
--- Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Thousand Oaks, is a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee and its Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims.
Despite my good wishes, our nation is in serious jeopardy. This is a sad day in American history.