Posted on 04/19/2003 11:31:41 AM PDT by Sweet_Sunflower29
The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department will not recognize Mexican-issued identification cards, despite Victorville City Council's unanimous endorsement of the cards earlier this week, officials said Thursday.
"Our Sheriff (Gary Penrod) has some concern accepting the card as a standalone document," said Sheriff's Lt. Rick Carr.
On Tuesday, the council unanimously endorsed the cards, following a ceremony in which the council members praised the program.
Councilman Rudy Cabriales instructed the staff to "make sure we have training for the Sheriff's Department."
The council also instructed staff to come up with a formal resolution to support the program.
While the city contracts out for the sheriff's services, it cannot dictate larger policies, Carr said.
"It's the sheriff's decision," he said.
Councilman Bob Hunter said his vote was to support the general concept of the cards, not this particular program.
"We won't do anything until the Sheriff's Department looks at the program," Hunter said.
Cabriales did not return calls for comment Thursday.
The Sheriff's Department, for its part, said it is awaiting the results of a federal review, which began in January. A proposed four-month federal pilot program began accepting the identification cards for access to a federal building in San Francisco. It was quickly terminated, though, because of questions of whether the cards were secure.
Investigation under way
The federal General Services Administration, along with the U.S. State Department and other agencies, are investigating the card, said Ed Larkin, a spokesman for the GSA.
The GSA questioned the "integrity of information contained in such cards and security of the document itself," according to an administration-issued statement.
Still, more than 800 law enforcement agencies, along with banks and local governments, recognize the card, said Carlos Giralt-Cabrales, Mexican consul for San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
Along with Wells Fargo and Bank of America, Desert Community Bank recognizes the card, but only as a secondary source of information.
"The reason we don't recognize it as primary identification is that it's too easy to get," said Ron Wilson, president and CEO of the bank.
Immigration control groups said the identification cards, called matricula consular, allows undocumented immigrants to enjoy the benefits of citizenship.
Cards make us 'welcome mat'
"Governments and banks supporting these cards is making us even more of a welcome mat to illegal aliens," said Barbara Coe, chairwoman of the California Coalition for Immigration Reform, based in Huntington Beach.
"There is absolutely no security on these cards. There's not enough verification that the person applying is who they say they are," Coe said.
To get a card, applicants must provide the area consulate with a Mexican birth certificate, a photo ID and proof of residency, such as a utility bill, said Giralt-Cabrales.
"We don't construct identities," he said.
The cards are equipped with the latest technology to prevent falsification, Giralt-Cabrales said, and even many of the card's critics agree that the card is difficult to reproduce.
But those like Coe who oppose the card say it's too easy to obtain the birth certificate and photo ID.
"I can buy one of those at the corner for 30 bucks," she said of the birth certificates.
Last year, the consulate issued more than 34,000 matricula consular cards to Mexican nationals living in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, Giralt-Cabrales said.
Father Michael Lama, of Christ the Good Shephard Catholic Church in Adelanto, said he supports the cards if they make life easier for those in the community.
"If it gives them a benefit in some way while they're here, then God bless them," he said.
My husband and I moved to rural Alaska from Houston, TX. It was becoming more and more like a third-world country there, with all the same problems being experienced in California and Arizona.
Good description of those cards. It seems that "illegal" isn't illegal anymore, and the silence from our President is deafening.
You're lucky you could move to Alaska. It's nice to know you are still concerned about the issues, even though you have moved. That's what I call being a patriot.
wonder if his parents would hold up to close inspection of their citizenshipOh sure! They were loyal citizens of Los Estados Unidos de Mexico for many generations.
Undoubtedly. And young Rodolfo is trying to expand the territorial boundaries of that country in an effort to make his parents proud.
Aren't we all proud of him?
I'm in Houston and you are absolutely correct. I've got to get the hell out of this city, it's turning more and more into Mexico by the day. I recently went shopping at the store we went to as a child, and was the only non-Hispanic in the whole place. The pages over the intercom were even in Spanish. When did this happen?? This area used to be so nice but it's not anymore. It now looks and sounds like a third world country.
As the Laci Peterson threads now have over 5000 hits....
America wont wake up.....
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