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Colorado Senate testimony by CAIR co-director Fred Elbel on HB-1224 - the "Colorado Secure and Verifiable Identity Document Act" Presented to the State Veterans and Military Affairs Committee, March 3, 2003 Regarding the question of secure and verifiable documents, the Mexican matricula consular ID card has been accepted by several Colorado cities at the request of the Mexican government - without citizen input. In a January letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell, 12 U.S. House members questioned the propriety of the cards, describing them as an 'issue of enormous significance that has massive implications for the nation.' They also said Mexico had undertaken 'a massive lobbying effort' to persuade local authorities to accept the cards for identification purposes." Really, it's a back door attempt at a stealth amnesty. Roberto Rodriguez Hernandez, director of the Mexican card program was quoted as saying 'It's necessary to push the need for an amnesty at all levels." This card is not a secure document. The Denver Mexican consulate has issued cards at the rate of one five minutes. The documents upon which the card depends - including a Mexican birth certificate - are about as easy to forge as homework. And only illegals need this card. Nearly one million cards were issued last year and more than 42,000 Mexicans in Colorado now have cards. Mexican President Fox couldn't get new amnesties after September 11, so he began lobbying U.S. cities and banks to accept the cards. And yet, no major bank in Mexico accepts the card to open an account. And the cards are recognized as IDs in only 10 of Mexico's 32 states and districts. Now, Guatemala, Honduras, Poland, Peru and El Salvador, aware of Mexico's success, have begun or are considering issuing cards of their own. And there are legal consequences to accepting the cards. Insurance companies probably won't cover liability associated with the card. So if a city accepts the card and a citizen is injured by an illegal alien, the citizen could likely sue individual city council members. In a WorldNetDaily article October 2001, a Border Patrol supervisor stated: "The smuggling traffic of Mexicans has really slowed. We are experiencing a tremendous increase in other than Mexicans ... about one in every 10 that we catch is from a country like Yemen or Egypt." A Border Patrol spokesperson stated that "agents have picked up people from all over the world, including the former Soviet Union, Asia and the Middle East." In a May 1, 2000 Report to Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, the General Accounting Office reported, "Alien smuggling is a significant and growing problem. Some are smuggled as part of a criminal or terrorist enterprise that can pose a serious threat to U.S. national security." In January, the General Services Administration suspended recognition of the matricula cards at federal facilities pending an investigation. The author of a new Center for Immigration Studies report stated: "Mexico's marketing of its consular cards is a direct challenge to U.S. sovereignty." It's absurd that we would put our security and our document integrity in the hands of a foreign government. I urge you to support HB1224 - legislation that would make illegal the acceptance of the foreign matricula consular ID card - and any similar cards. testimony by Marlene Guerrero Matricula toolkit o Matricula ID card Home |