Consul General of Mexico: Municipal IDs can help Mexican nationals

The Consul General of Mexico in El Paso said a municipal I.D. would enable Mexican nationals do things they currently can’t with a mexican I.D. The Mexican consulate provides Mexican nationals living outside of their home country with a matricula consular, an official I.D.

“The matricula consular has a lot of advanced techology incorporated in this card, including a microchip and security measures,” said Jacob Pardo, the Consul General of Mexico. The Mexican government will help mexican nationals get a copy of their birth certificate at the mexican consulate so they can get a matricula consular, said Prado. “Many authorities recognize the matricula consular. Even the police department for example, they know it’s better to identify the identity of a person instead of having no way to prove who is reporting a crime for example.”

Supporters say a municipal id would help the homeless and undocumented immigrants do normal things like identify themselves before police, open bank accounts, go into their children’s schools. Those opposed to the municipal I.D. say the matricula is enough for undocumented immigrants to do those things.

Prado said not all police departments in the U.S. accept the matricula, but El Paso Police does, at least for reporting crimes and verifying identity. He said not all but some banks will also accept the matricula as a secondary I.D. to open an account. He said there are things the matricula cannot be used for that a municipal id could be used for, like an undocumented parent obtaining a copy of the birth certificate of their U.S. citizen child.

“If you as a parent of an american citizen go to obtain this document, they always ask for an american government issued ID otherwise they will not issue the birth certificiate and this is something that prevents these children who were born in the united states to have this document for different purposes.”

Last year, the Mexican Consulate in El Paso issued 6,000 matriculas. They cost $26.00 and should be renewed every five years.