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City begins accepting Mexico IDs [Denver]
Denver Post ^ | October 4, 2002 | Michael Riley

Posted on 10/04/2002 5:52:34 PM PDT by Vince Ferrer

Undocumented Mexican immigrants seeking city services or stopped by police can now present an ID card issued by the Mexican government that will be accepted by city agencies just like a Colorado driver's license, Mayor Wellington Webb announced Thursday.

Denver police will start accepting the card immediately, and if a supporting resolution is approved by the City Council, undocumented immigrants can use it to get everything from a business license or a bank account to a building permit.

The mayor's decision makes Denver among the largest of more than 40 U.S. cities that now recognize the ID - known as a "Matricula Consular" - and which the Mexican Consulate in Denver has issued by the thousands since June. The card is controversial because it is used mostly by illegal immigrants who cannot get a U.S. driver's license or other identification because of their immigration status.

"These are members of our community who are filling a void of jobs Americans have chosen not to do," Webb said at a Thursday morning news conference at a Mexican restaurant in north Denver.

"The identification card does not establish legal status in the United States," the mayor said, "but it does provide official identification to undocumented immigrants."

Surrounded by elected officials and city workers, all of them Hispanic, Webb used the moment to press other themes important to Hispanic voters. He announced his opposition to Amendment 31, which limits bilingual education in state schools, as well as his support for Jesus Apodaca, the Aurora honors student and illegal immigrant whose case has divided Republicans and become a political litmus test among many Hispanic voters in the state.

Although term limits will effectively end the mayor's stint at the helm of city government next year, the politics of the Hispanic vote - its effect on both his party's future and his own - were on the mayor's mind.

Webb praised immigrants and highlighted the demographic shift that has changed the face of Denver over the last decade, much of it through immigration from Mexico and the rest of Latin America.

He said that the city's decision to accept the Mexican ID cards would make city services more accessible to immigrants, whether they are here legally or not, and would encourage private businesses - from Blockbuster video stores to the city's banks - to serve immigrants.

"Acknowledging the fact that this economy is existent based on immigrant labor - in the service industries, in the construction industries, in lots of others - it seems that at the very least they ought to be able to get a bank account, rent a video, or go to King Soopers and get a discount card, just like everyone else," said Andrew Hudson, a spokesman for the mayor.

Bacilio Santos, who was waiting in line for one of the new IDs Thursday, said he was tired of paying $10 or $20 each time he wanted to cash his paycheck. He planned to use the ID to open an account at one of the two Denver bank chains that already accept the card.

After Webb's announcement, Santos, who works at a hotel in Vail, hopes he can use the card to get a small-business license here.

"Without a bank account, without a credit history, it's very difficult," said Santos, who came to Colorado from the Mexican state of Durango two years ago. "This should help a lot."

The consulate has issued 8,000 of the cards since they were introduced in June - a response, Mexican officials say, to the tighter scrutiny faced by immigrants living in the United States since Sept. 11.

"If you're crossing the street and get into an accident, what are you going to do? You don't have anything to show the police," said Evangelina Lyons, who got one of the ID card several weeks ago.

"If you go to school, they ask for an ID. If you cash a check, they ask for an ID," she said. "It will be much easier now."

City officials say they decided to accept the ID in part because they were satisfied it would be much harder to falsify than earlier versions and that requirements to obtain one are stricter. To get one of the cards, which cost $9, Mexican nationals must present an original copy of a birth certificate, as well as a Mexican national voter registration card.

But U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, a fierce advocate of curtailing illegal immigration, blasted the notion of the ID card.

"The only people who benefit from having such an ID are those who have come illegally and have broken our laws," the Jefferson County Republican said in a statement. "It is ludicrous to believe that this method is a legitimate way of proving identity. Frankly, it's a complete farce, and it's far too risky for our city government to be accepting such flimsy identification cards during a time when our nation is vulnerable to future terrorist attacks."

Michael McGarry, a spokesman for the Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform, echoed those sentiments, saying fake Mexican birth certificates are now easily available on the black market as more illegal Mexican immigrants try to get the new ID.

"Who would have a Matricula card? By definition, they are almost all going to be illegal aliens," McGarry said. "The mayor is asking us to give full faith and credit to an amazingly corrupt government. It's absurd that we would put our security and our document integrity in their hands."

Still, City Council members say a resolution endorsing the ID is likely to pass. Ed Thomas, a former policeman, said he is convinced that the city is safer if authorities know who they are dealing with, even if they are in the country illegally.

The IDs "should help combat the underground market for phony IDs, which is a big problem," Thomas said. "From a policy point of view, I think it is a positive step."

Webb also used the occasion to add his support to the family of Jesus Apodoca, the immigrant honors student who has gained national attention in recent weeks.

"The young man who came forward bravely to raise a legitimate policy issue for higher education should not be facing deportation," Webb said, referring to efforts by Tancredo to deport the 18-year-old student after he read about Apodaca in The Denver Post.


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Colorado
KEYWORDS: mexicanid
Something else to throw onto the pile of all the other laws Democrats won't obey.
1 posted on 10/04/2002 5:52:34 PM PDT by Vince Ferrer
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To: Vince Ferrer
It seems the dems a pubbies are both thrying to get the illegal vote. I want bank robbers to be able to use their ID's and not be arrested, too. I might start robbing banks if they would stop prosecuting that law, just like they have stopped prosecuting illegal immigrants. I have also stopped voting. Why bother? Illegals outnumber us in many districts and my political representatives have said that my vote as a citizen means nothing.
2 posted on 10/04/2002 5:55:46 PM PDT by PatrioticAmerican
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To: Vince Ferrer
Wellington Webb proves once again that he is a jackass. I wonder if his son is still in the Denver County jail or if he's been moved to Canyon City.
3 posted on 10/04/2002 5:59:50 PM PDT by SMEDLEYBUTLER
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To: Vince Ferrer
The IDs "should help combat the underground market for phony IDs

He's right. Who needs an underground market when you can get a phony ID from the local Consulate for nine bucks.

4 posted on 10/04/2002 6:44:48 PM PDT by Colorado Doug
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