FILE Finding Success On "Matricula Card"

Project USA Update, Issue 138-19j ^ | Jan 6, 2003 | Craig Nelsen

[CIBvet]

+== TIME-OUT PROJECT ==+

Thanks in part to its extensive education campaign, says Friends of Immigration Law Enforcement (FILE), fewer U.S. institutions appear willing to take on the risk of accepting as valid identification the "matricula consular," an ID card issued by the Mexican government to its citizens residing illegally in the United States. According to the legal watchdog group, the pace at which the card is being accepted by new institutions seems to have slowed; increasingly, communities are either reconsidering acceptance, or declining to authorize the card in the first place.

The trend to accept the cards, which the Mexican government openly touts as a stealth amnesty for millions of Mexican illegal aliens in the United States, looked unstoppable just a few months ago. Numerous towns, cities, counties, and police departments around the country were rushing to recognize officially the matricula as valid ID. Thirteen states had decided to recognize the card in one capacity or another. And many major banking firms, led by Wells Fargo, had begun to recognize it as sufficient identification to open a bank account.

FILE argues that, since only illegal aliens have need of it, acceptance of the card by American institutions violates federal law [8 U.S.C. §1324(a)(1)(A)(iv)] and Constitutional precepts. Furthermore, says the group, it exposes the institution that accepts the card to civil damage lawsuits (for full legal arguments, see link below).

Nevertheless, an aggressive Mexico City-backed lobbying campaign within the United States to push for acceptance of the card was meeting with considerable success. Roberto Rodriguez Hernandez, general director of the ID project for Mexico's Foreign Ministry, makes no secret of the Mexican government's motives or tactics. "It's necessary to push the need for an [amnesty] at all levels," he told the Washington Times. "A little lobbying, pushing from mayors up to governors, then going through congressional representatives and senators is worth the effort."

The effort is being coordinated through Mexico's 43 consulates in the United States. Dave Gorak of the Midwest Coalition to Reduce Immigration reports that a spokesperson at the Mexican Consulate in Chicago told him the consulate is hoping to "institute more aggressive programs in the near future to work more closely with grassroots groups that are concerned with such topics as legalization of undocumented immigrants."

The Mexican effort includes a campaign to place op-eds in major American newspapers propagandizing the Mexican government's position, as California-based writer Joe Guzzardi demonstrates in a piece for the increasingly influential online opinion journal, VDARE.com (for a list of the many newspapers obliging Mexico City, see link below).

But FILE points to a series of recent victories on the matricula card that could spell trouble for the Mexicans' strategy:

· A town in Florida that looked set to accept the card several months ago rejected it after receiving legal notice from the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
· A bank in Nebraska, after receiving similar legal notice from FILE, contacted the group and asked for a picture of the card so that it could alert its tellers not to accept it.
· State legislators in two states are working with FILE to introduce state legislation that would forbid acceptance of the card by any local government or agency.
· New York City and New York State, citing security concerns, have both recently declined to recognize the card.
· And inside sources at the State Department tell of growing "unease" within the department over acceptance of the cards by U.S. institutions (and traffic on the FILE website from the Treasury and Justice Departments is brisk).

FILE maintains there is a good chance the matricula trend will be reversed by the end of this year. Immigration moderates would applaud such a reversal because 1) it would derail meddlesome foreign interference in U.S domestic politics, 2) it would sabotage another attempt at an under-the-table amnesty, and 3) it would force the hand of the pro-amnesty Bush Administration by not allowing the anti-borders extremists in the administration to have an amnesty while avoiding the political consequences.

____________________________

FILE: Legal Arguments Against Official Acceptance of MC Card
http://fileus.com/dept/id/matricula/index.html

Boulder's Acceptance Of Matricula Consular Cards Could Be Illegal
http://www.boulderweekly.com/newsspin.html

Card-Carrying Immigrants (Washington Post editorial -- EXCEPTIONALLY GOOD) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20348-2002Dec20.html

"Since Late November, the Mexican Government Has Planted the Same Op-ed Into At Least 17 Major U.S. Dailies." (Joe Guzzardi) http://www.vdare.com/guzzardi/consulate_offices.htm

Does Dubya Know About Fox's Madrid Speech? (Allan Wall in Mexico)
http://www.vdare.com/awall/fox_madrid.htm

Mexican ID Cards Accepted at San Francisco Federal Building
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/01/04/stat e0053EST0173.DTL

+== TAKE POSITIVE ACTION ==+

Immigration moderates should be worried, however, about a disturbing development in San Francisco. The Associated Press reported on January 4 that a federal building in that city has begun to accept the matricula card as identification for entering the building. Supporters say it will help illegal aliens access federal services.

Ominously, the move was backed by incoming House minority leader, Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi spokesperson Cindy Jimenez explained that the congresswoman wanted to "help her constituents access services there, including our office." (It is no surprise that Rep. Pelosi considers foreign nationals illegally residing in the United States -- in defiance of the will of the American people -- her "constituents." Americans for Better Immigration grades her voting record on immigration a solid "F".)

Please contact Rep. Pelosi, and tell her you are very disappointed that she has supported the acceptance of the matricula card as legitimate ID to enter the Phillip Burton Federal Building in San Francisco, and that it is troubling to note that the new House minority leader supports illegal immigration. Mention the recent poll that found 60 percent of the public regards the present level of immigration to be a "critical threat to the vital interests of the United States," compared to only 14 percent of the nation's "elites." Tell her you are sorry to see her siding with the elites, and against the average person.

Nancy Pelosi sf.nancy@mail.house.gov (202) 225-4965

For good measure, print out the excellent Washington Post editorial linked above and mail it to Pelosi's Capitol Hill office:

Representative Nancy Pelosi 2457 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC 20515

+== QUOTE OF THE WEEK ==+

There are no great men, only great challenges that ordinary men are forced by circumstances to meet.

- William Halsey

+== EMAIL OF THE WEEK ==+

How about blasting Bush's Crawford ranch with Mexican music? I'm talking about putting loudspeakers as close to Bush's ranch as the Secret Service will allow and playing recorded Mexican tunes and/or Mexican radio at the loudest volume possible 24/7. That's how Bush #41 got Noriega to surrender.

Tim Brand Forest Hills, New York

+== SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT==+

Immigration debate: January 8, Denver, Colorado "The Mexican "matricula consular" ID card: Safe or sorry?"

Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform http://www.cairco.org/news/news_release_2003jan02.html

[CIBvet]

We are making progress by standing up against this invasion of Illegal Aliens into our country. Please consider taking the actions recommended in the article and help protect our American Culture and National Soveriegnty.

[mvpel]

8 USC 1324:

Sec. 1324. - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens
(a) Criminal penalties
(1) (A) Any person who -
(iii) knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that an alien has come to, entered, or remains in the United States in violation of law, conceals, harbors, or shields from detection, or attempts to conceal, harbor, or shield from detection, such alien in any place, including any building or any means of transportation;
(iv) encourages or induces 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; or ...

I think they meant to cite (iii) there, not (iv).

[The Obstinate Insomniac]

bump

[CIBvet]

Looks like both could apply. I wonder how the penalty for such violation is determined?

[RippleFire]

BUMP

[CIBvet]

Thanks for the bump. Looks like we might be making some headway in stopping this Illegal insanity.

[monkeywrench]

From the link " Does Dubya know about Fox's speech"

"“....we have to confront ..... what I dare to call the Anglo-Saxon prejudice against the establishment of supra-national organizations.”

[mvpel]

The penalty is set forth in subparagraph B. In the case of (A)(iii) and (A)(iv), the penalty is a fine determined in Title 18, or a maximum of five years in prison, or both.

[gubamyster]

ping

[XLurk]

DAMN!

I was about to go try and get one of those cards so I could pretend to be an illegal. (I'm looking to get a new job, you see...)
I've already brushed-up on my Spanish and gone to the tanning hut twice. Screwed again...

[FITZ]

"“....we have to confront ..... what I dare to call the Anglo-Saxon prejudice against the establishment of supra-national organizations.”

Anglo-Saxon values like the idea of a middle class and standards of living for the majority like you find in the USA, Canada, Australia and other Anglo-Saxon culture-influenced places upset elites like Fox who prefer two-tiered societies.