Mexican citizens acquire identification cards

About two dozen protesters brandished signs and American flags as hundreds of Mexican citizens packed a Carpentersville church to obtain identification cards and passports Saturday.

During the four days that the Mexican mobile consulate set up shop at St. Stephens Church on Kennedy Drive, about 1,600 people obtained passports or an identification card called a "matricula consular," consulate spokesman Lino Santacruz said.

Carpentersville is one of 80 cities the mobile unit from the Chicago consulate plans to visit this year, Santacruz said. The agency was able to expand the tour this year, as a second mobile consulate was added.

"We have steadily growing demand, and we received an order to improve our services," Santacruz said.

The agency also has expanded the scope of its operations. No longer just a stop for identification cards, the mobile consulate now offers an array of services, including parenting classes, diabetes screening and legal consultations, Santacruz said.

But it's the controversial identification cards -- which can allow immigrants in the country illegally to open bank accounts or enroll children in school -- that have prompted anti-illegal immigration groups across the country to picket the mobile consulates.

Rick Biesada, director of the state Minuteman Project, cited 2003 testimony by the assistant director of the FBI saying the card is easily obtained through fraud and forgery and is not a reliable method of identification.

Wearing a hat proclaiming himself an "Undocumented Border Control Agent," Biesada said his group was here to "educate people."

"They're aiding and abetting criminals," said Biesada, of Lindenhurst. "The only people who would need (a matricula consular) is an illegal alien."

As he and his supporters waved flags and signs with messages such as "It's the Illegal Part Stupid," cars driving past honked.

The honks were accompanied by roughly equal numbers of thumbs up -- and raised middle fingers.