Foreign governments giving out passports
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JOE ANGSTEN
Published: May 20, 2008
In June 2007, the Mexican Embassy set up a table at NOVA and issued passports and identification cards to its citizens already in this country.
It was quite a process — they conducted background checks and apparently issued passports and Mexican identification cards on the spot to those citizens that qualified.
There was no mention of how many people did not qualify and for what reasons. It has taken months to get a response from Congressman Frank Wolf and the State Department on how this is possible. It
took four months for Congressman Wolf to get this 19-word statement from the INS: “It is within the rights of the embassy to issue Mexican documents to nationals living in the United States.”
This is not a direct answer to the question and no mention of Mexican citizens illegally living in the U.S. It took approximately eight months, and four letters, with the last letter to the Inspector General of the State Department to get an answer.
The State Department answer was: “Mexico, and any other country, which are parties to the 1964 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations can issue passports and travel documents to its nationals already in another country.
The U.S. government has no authority regarding the Mexican government issuance of passports to its citizens.” Bottom line — Mexico or any other signatory can issue a passport to its citizens regardless if those individuals are illegally in this country. Draw your own conclusions, but mine is that my government really is not concerned about illegal aliens coming into this country, and therefore, not really concerned about illegal alien impacts to local communities.
JOE ANGSTEN
Manassas
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Reader Reactions
Posted by ( mongoose ) on May 22, 2008 at 7:14 pm
Ron, i’ll check it out. ‘57 A and ‘67 B GT owner. great cars.
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Posted by ( RonCharest ) on May 22, 2008 at 10:59 am
Mongoose,
That would be me. It was a 1979 MG Midget that I owned from 1984 to 1986. If you’re interested, I have a story about this car with pics and brochure scans at:
http://www.charest.net/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=14&page=3
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Posted by ( mongoose ) on May 21, 2008 at 8:55 pm
who made the post about having an MG and what was it?
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Posted by ( BHappy ) on May 21, 2008 at 6:34 pm
There is nothing untoward about a foreign government issuing its own documents to its nationals residing in the US. How do you think legal permanent residents obtain passports and replacement birth certificates, etc?
The issue is whether or not we choose to accept foreign ID for the purposes of establishing entitlements to services.
Someone residing in the US with a valid foreign passport but without a current and valid visa stamp should stand out and their status should be questioned.
Also, it is not “illegal” for citizens of Canada to reside in the US for up to 183 days without a visa. Entire “snowbird” communities in AZ and FL count on these “migrants”.
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Posted by ( raywilliams ) on May 21, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Why not just make Mexico the 51st state?
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Posted by ( phdee ) on May 21, 2008 at 4:26 pm
cOME ON FOLKS. tHIS LETTER (AND OTHER SIMILAR) ONES IS proof THthe anti crowd isn’t interested in immigration, and that the “legal” papers is big and phony. It’s pure racism at its best.
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Posted by ( kgotthardt ) on May 21, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Isn’t it better to have Mexico foot the bill and do the background checks? Now at least these folks have identification! We need Mexico to step up to the plate a little more on this and NOW.
Joe, I can see how you might interpret this as the U.S. once again not doing its job. However, policy between Mexico and the U.S. has been messed up since NAFTA, which incidentally, is why we have such an immigration policy problem as well.
The U.S. has pretty much neglected diplomacy with Mexico, and we see the neglect when seemingly contradictory actions take place. The U.S. can’t simply ignore an agreement that was made decades ago…that is, we can’t ignore it if we want to avoid yet another war, and this one at our very border.
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Posted by ( RonCharest ) on May 21, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Cobra,
Speaking of making statements you can’t back up: “I can guarantee you that the 1 million US Citizens who live in Mexico entered that country legally and they follow the law.“
Really? Do you know all those 1 million Americans personally? Because if you do, then I’m confused. I personally know/knew people living and working in Mexico who were “Illegal” by Mexican laws. Check around the main tourist regions in Acapulco, Puerta Vallharta and around Cozumel. You’ll find many, many Americans working the hotels and resort areas using only their tourist passport with expired visas and no work permit.
Must make the US government complicit in Americans breaking Mexican laws.
Barnun,
It may not be racism for you. But when people such as Cobra consistently interchange “Illegal” with “Hispanic” than it starts sounding an awful lot like racism to me.
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Posted by ( Grant Gary Jacobsen ) on May 21, 2008 at 10:12 am
That was a year ago (old news).
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Posted by ( barnun ) on May 21, 2008 at 9:06 am
Ron,
that would be fine if they were doing it ALL within the law. That has always been the point of these arguements. It’s not racism, it’s about breaking the laws and abusing the social systems.
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