While the website of Mexican consul Rodolfo Quilantan in Brownsville issued a press release welcoming President Barack Obama's Deferred Action executive orders to allow some 4 million Mexicans living int eh U.S.illegally to remain in this country, many local residents say that the Brownsville consulate has made that almost impossible.
Numerous callers and visitors to this blog have reported that the requirements by the Brownsville consulate to issue the Matricula Consular – a card that provides identification to Mexicans living here that allows them to cash checks, enter contracts or do business – has been denied them by rules at the consulate which now requires new, and onerous, documentation.
Sifuentes said that unlike his predecessor, Quilantan is requiring a montain-load of paperwork from applicants.
"All these people need is an identification card that will allow them to do business and cash a check," he said. "I though the Mexican consul was here to help his countrymen."
Quilantan, who fancies himself a scholar and associates with the local elite, has been roundly criticized here and in the Matamoros and Tamaulipas media, for not voicing objections to the mass deportations of Mexican minors or other undocumented in northern Mexico. The deportees are then easy prey for cartels who recruit the desperate individuals trying to make their way back.
One such mass deportation occurred during one of the sister cities "Hands Across the River" Charro Days ceremonies while the festivities were taking place.
Additionally, the influx of large number of these persons into Matamoros and Reynosa overwhelm the resources of these cities to assist them make their way back to their homes in Mexico's interior.
Instead, the consul and his wife have become the prime movers of Mexican folk art, using the consulate as a showroom to hawk their wares.
In fact, the pubic appearances Quilantan does make are usually to pose for photos with Border Patrol reps, local cities' elected officials and movie starts.
During the recent Taste of La Frontera food show hosted by the Mr. Amigo Association, it was instructive to see that both the consulates of El Salvador and Guatemala attended the event and the Brownsville consul did not.
"Quilantan es el muro de los Mexicanos en Bronwsville (Quilantan is the Brownsville Border Wall)," said a local immigration attorney.
Now, as many of his fellow countrymen are turned away when they apply for a Matricula Consular in Brownsville, that saying may ring truer than ever.
5 comments:
I think you are being a little harsh. No official of any government can hand out national identity documents to whoever walks through the door without the necessary formal documents to prove their citizenship.
Just try walking into any US Consulate anywhere in the world and ask them for a card identifying you as a US national without proper documentation.
I realize the great sympathy some have for the plight of the illegal alien in this country, but every country has rules, even Mexico. But, there is always "la mordida", I suppose.
Montoya, common guy, what do they expect. They are here as illegals, now they want to be treated with white gloves. If they don't like it, Brownsville has plenty of bridges.
The Mexican government obviously supports illegal immigration into the U.S.....its cheaper for them. The formal process to enter the U.S. is a long, time consuming and expensive process. It is cheaper for Mexico (and other nations) if they force their citizens to immigrate to the U.S. illegally. Also, it allows Mexico to rid itself of criminals and other members of the Mexican "underclass" and transfers (by encouraging illegal immigration) their need for social change to the U.S., where being poor here is far better than being poor in Mexico. Mexico supports and depends on illegal immigration to the U.S. because it relieves that nation from having to establish social programs and increase basic living wages.
One day in the future U.S. Citizens will be fleeing to Mexico.
If it was safe, I would move South in a Heart Beat.
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