ID card seen as ticket to a brighter future

COSTA MESA -- Like many teenagers, Ivan Hernandez wants to buy a car someday. On Sunday, he went to get a wallet-size laminated card that may help.

It's not a driver's license or a credit card. Hernandez, 16, is a Mexican citizen, so he applied to his country's consulate for a matricula consular, a photo ID card much like a U.S. state ID.

To get the card, applicants must show legal documents such as birth certificates or passports, and they give their fingerprints and signature.

Organizers from the Orange County Congregation Community Organization worked with the Laguna Niguel-based Unico Foundation to bring the Mexican consulate to St. Joachim Catholic Church on Sunday to offer the ID cards. Typically, about 300 people receive their cards at each community event, said Luis Miguel Ortiz Haro, who heads Orange County's Mexican Consulate in Santa Ana.

For people who don't have another photo ID or can't get one, the cards are important if they need to they apply for a library card, enroll children in school or identify themselves to the police.

Hernandez, a student at Newport Harbor High School, said the only ID he had was from school, and it isn't accepted at many places.

With the matricula consular, he said, "I'm going to try to go out and get a bank account."

In fact, Bank of America representatives set up a table for people who had received their cards and wanted to open an account.

The bank table was at the end of the line, after a number of steps not unlike procedures at the Department of Motor Vehicles.

The consulate's visit was announced at masses, and fliers were distributed. Volunteers were mobilized to arrange the event.

Applicants for the matricula consular were told what documents to bring. After waiting in line outside the church gym to make copies of their documents, people went in and had them checked by consulate staff.

If all the papers were present and valid, applicants paid $27 and waited again while their information was typed into a database to be compared with U.S. and Mexican sources. That was to make sure the information was correct and that people would have only one valid card, said Patrice Mariscal, an organizer with the Unico Foundation.

"Right now, everywhere I go, I only pull out my expired [driver's] license," said Jorge Rodriguez, 37, who was waiting to get his photo taken for the ID card.

Rodriguez, a warehouse manager who has lived in Costa Mesa for nearly 16 years, said he doesn't have U.S. citizenship papers, so he can't get a new driver's license.

"Before, you didn't have to prove that you were an American citizen," he said. "There's a lot of things you need to become a legal resident, but right now there's no way for you to get it."

One of the main criticisms of the matricula consular is that people who are not legal residents here can get one, which some people believe legitimizes their illegal status. Congress is still debating legislation that could allow some illegal immigrants to obtain citizenship, but some Republicans have said they will never approve such a proposal.

But Mariscal said it actually helps U.S. government officials -- including police -- when people have the cards.

"I think it's misunderstood," she said. "This is a Mexican document for Mexican people, so we're not doing something wrong; this is just simply saying people are Mexican because they proved they're Mexican."

Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona and Costa Mesa Police Chief John Hensley have said they will accept the matricula consular as identification, so some Costa Mesa residents have been eager to get the cards, Paty Madueno, an organizer with the Orange County Congregation Community Organization, said.

The prospect of being stopped by police is a much bigger concern since the Costa Mesa City Council in December voted to have some officers trained for immigration enforcement. The effort is expected to target felons and gang members, but it has some in the city's Latino community worried anyway.

Organizers of Sunday's event also handed out a survey to find out more about community needs, such as medical services and English classes.

Madueno said later this year they plan to offer people help applying for American citizenship and registering to vote.

"This ID helps the quality of life you're going to get. It's improving the moment you have an ID," Mariscal said.

Those who accept the matricular consula ID cards as identification may be subject to RICO prosecution.

http://www.cis.org/articles/2003/back1103.html

Another predicate act that would make an employer liable under RICO is encouraging or inducing "an alien to come to, enter, or reside in the United States, knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that such coming to, entry, or residence is or will be in violation of law."16 The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has specifically interpreted this provision to apply to actions that encourage illegal aliens already in the United States to remain or that induce further illegal immigration.17 The Fourth Circuit held that "‘encouraging’ is not limited to bringing in, transporting or concealing illegal aliens. Rather, ‘encouraging’ relates to actions taken to convince the illegal alien to come to this country or to stay in this country."18 The Court held that a range of activities would meet this definition — fertile ground for a good plaintiff attorney.

One way to encourage illegal immigration is to accept foreign-issued identification documents, such as the "matricula consular" card issued by the Mexican government, that are only needed by illegal aliens. Mexican consulate offices in the United States issue the cards to Mexican nationals living here, without regard to the immigration status of the recipients. Since all legal immigrants and foreign visitors have access to legitimate U.S.-issued identification, such as a passport with a visa stamp or a green card, only illegal aliens have need to rely on the matricula card to establish identity. Acceptance of such a card as valid U.S. identification would certainly facilitate the entry of illegal aliens into American society, and any bank, municipality, or other entity that accepts the card, knowingly provides benefits — such as the ability to open bank accounts or access public services — to illegal aliens usually reserved solely for US citizens or legal residents. Though there is no court opinion yet that speaks directly to this new issue, it is not unreasonable to argue that such a practice could be found to encourage illegal aliens already in the United States to remain.

Acceptance of the matricula card also induces further immigration because those contemplating illegal entry will be more likely to do so given the added benefits they can hope to obtain with a matricula card once inside the United States. Thus, acceptance of the matricula for financial gain may serve as a predicate act under RICO. If an entity, for financial gain, accepts the matricula on more than one occasion, it engages in a pattern of racketeering activity in violation of §1962 of the RICO Act.

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