Legal Papers On Demand!

Mexican Nationals Deluge Mexican Consular Services Requesting Passports due to Increased State Enacted Illegall Immigration Enforcement Laws and the increase in Racial Profiling!

Reuters is reporting:
Mexican Consular Office Head in Washington Enrique Escorza Talks About Immigration
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Azteca America (Hispanic television network in the United States) hosted the head of Mexican Consular Services in Washington, Enrique Escorza, on this week's broadcast of "Issues: Caras y Voces" (Issues: Faces and Voices)...

"The request for documents by Mexican nationals residing in the UnitedStates has increased sharply as anti-immigration policies are on the rise. To meet demand, many Mexican consular offices, including that of Washington DC, have mobile units that go on-site to areas with high Mexican concentration to provide documentation and other services to residents."

"Despite increased demand, the consular office in Washington DC has reduced the time for processing passports by 25%. The office is one of the most efficient consular offices in the United States, generating about 2 milliondollars' worth of services with a staff of nine people. "

Christian Science Monitor:
Mexican ID is ticket to US mainstream
With this coveted card, 'undocumented' immigrants move a step closer to legal status
HOUSTON – Hugo Godinez Sosa hears his name over the Mexican consulate loudspeaker and pushes through the throng to pick up what is possibly the most valuable item an illegal immigrant can now possess in the US – an official Mexican ID card. The matricula consular – a nondescript, laminated card that bears a person's name, residence in Mexico, and photo – is fast becoming a ticket out of the shadows and into the American mainstream. Many public institutions – such as schools, hospitals, social services, law enforcement agencies, and banks and other businesses – around the US are suddenly beginning to accept the cards as legal identification. And, so, that combined with the renewed emphasis on security and documentation in the US in recent months has caused a rush of tens of thousands of both legal and illegal immigrants to Mexican consulates in the US to get their cards.

Inasmuch as the great debate over the rights and status of "undocumented" immigrants hinges on a piece of paper, this document promises to bring a whole class of marginalized people a step closer to legal recognition in the US. Groups that favor reduced immigration and strict adherence to immigration law, believe the acceptance of these ID cards undermines US law and sets a dangerous precedent. "States need to be part of the solution to illegal immigration. But accepting these documents makes state agencies part of the problem," says Dan Stein, executive director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform in Washington.

But proponents see it as a security issue – both for the immigrants themselves and for the American public.
"After Sept. 11, when it became clear that there were so many people without any documentation at all, these matriculas started gaining more strength and more significance throughout the United States," says Enrique Buj Flores, the Mexican consul general in Houston. While his matricula proves that Godinez is a resident of Mexico and nothing more, it suddenly opens doors in the US system. For one thing, the air-conditioning factory worker no longer has to keep his weekly pay in a wad in his pocket because he can now open a bank account with the card. And as of last week, he can use the ID to file a police report in Houston.

The Mexican Consulate here has been pushing hard to get the cards accepted more widely, as have many cities with large pockets of illegal immigrants.
In the past few months, for instance:
• San Francisco became the first city in the country to require hospitals, schools, and other public agencies to accept the ID cards as official documentation.
• In Arizona, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department joined the Phoenix Police Department in accepting the IDs on reports and other police business.
• Bank of America, while not the first to accept the ID for bank accounts, became the most aggressive by setting up a branch at the Mexican consulate in Santa Ana, Calif.