Hispanic chamber supports consular ID cards

By Timothy Pratt

Monday, Aug. 4, 2003 | 10:53 a.m.

The state's largest Hispanic organization told the federal government it supports the use of the controversial Mexican consular identification cards in the nation's banks.

The Latin Chamber of Commerce statement responded to a Treasury Department request for comments on what types of identification banks should accept. The chamber -- third largest in the Southwest, at 1,200 members -- filed its comments right before the federal agency's deadline Thursday.

"This is one of -- if not the most -- significant business issues in the Hispanic community today," Tony Sanchez, president of the chamber, said.

The chamber's rare public stance on a national issue was a sign of the growing controversy surrounding the use of the card known as the matricula consular that the Mexican government began aggressively promoting about 18 months ago.

The controversy pits those who say the card helps both people who have no other identification and the institutions that need to identify them against those who say it is being used by illegal immigrants to enter mainstream U.S. society.

The card is available to anyone who has $28 and can show proof of local residence and Mexican nationality. It reveals nothing about whether a person is legally in the United States.

In less than two years the matricula has been accepted as a form of identification by hundreds of public and private agencies nationwide. Banks have been eager to accept the cards because they make it easier for undocumented immigrants to open accounts and it gives the banks the opportunity to handle some of the $10 billion Mexicans send south of the U.S. border every year.

A Mexican consulate was established in Las Vegas in February 2002, and since then about 40,000 matriculas consulares have been issued, alternate consul Euclides del Moral said.

Metro Police also now accept the card as a form of identification, and a law passed in the most recent legislative session gives state agencies the option of doing the same.

Nationwide, about 1.5 million matriculas have been issued and the card has been accepted by more than 900 police departments and major banks like Wells Fargo, U.S. Bank and Bank of America as a legitimate form of identification.

Its supporters -- such as the Latin Chamber of Commerce -- say the card promotes national security by identifying many people who otherwise might live in the shadows as well as lowering crime in immigrant communities and helping to circulate more money in the local economies.

"The matricula card does more for security than ... any alternative," said Brian Ayala, head of the chamber's government affairs committee.

"If you give access to financial institutions ... the financial education they will receive ... will allow them to save more and spend more in the local economy," he said.

But several large national organizations that favor tighter enforcement of immigration laws say having the private sector and local and state agencies accept the cards provides illegal immigrants with rights and privileges they don't deserve.

Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, also sent comments to the Treasury, recommending that the matricula not be accepted.

"Allowing banks to use this is a clear capitulation to a narrow powerful interest that wants a share of the billions of dollars sent to Mexico every year."

Mehlman said the allowing the card to be used in banks was "...a first step toward ... amnesty" for Mexicans who are in the United States illegally.

Miriam Galicia Duarte, a spokeswoman for Wells Fargo, said the bank opposed any restrictions.

The bank disagrees with those who question the card's security.

"Many states have weaker security procedures when issuing driver's licences and identification cards," the bank's statement said.

Galicia said there were no current figures available from her bank nationwide, but she said the new matricula had been used to open 80,000 accounts in its first year of use, or about 2 percent of all accounts.

Taylor Griffin, spokesman for the Department of Treasury, said the agency will consider the comments in the coming weeks and decide if any changes should be made in the rules on what type of identification banks should accept.

The Mexican government, meanwhile, is keeping a close eye on the process.

"These are processes ... in which we can't intervene," del Moral said. But, he added: "We're concerned about the matriculas not being accepted."