House Votes to Restrict Matricula Consular
From: "Chi Chi Wu" <cwu@nclc.org>
House Votes to Restrict Issuance of Matricula Consular;
Vote on Treasury Regulations Even More Important
Immigrants suffered a stinging defeat Tuesday evening when the House of
Representatives approved a surprise amendment strictly regulating the
issuance of consular identification cards by foreign governments to their
own citizens. The effect of the amendment will likely be to curtail the
use of consular ID cards. If agreed to by the Senate, the amendment,
sponsored by John Hostettler (R-IN), the Chair of the Immigration
Subcommittee, would impose detailed record keeping and reporting
requirements on any country issuing such a card and also establish specific
procedures and requirements that must be met before such a card can be
issued.
For example, the issuing government would be required to report to
the U.S. State Department the name and address of each person to whom a
card is issued and upon request to submit its records to an audit by the
U.S. government. The amendment prescribes the kind of identification
governments may accept from their citizens and the manner in which records
must be kept. It also obliges the issuing government to require
cardholders to report any change of address within 30 days. The amendment
requires the U.S. State Department to issue regulations that enforce all
these provisions.
The amendment would affect any government issuing a consular identification
card, but clearly it is particularly directed against the Mexican
government's matricula consular. The matriculas are currently accepted as
identification by more than 400 cities, 80 financial institutions, 825 law
enforcement agencies, and 14 states. The Hostettler Amendment was opposed
by the U.S. State Department which argued that it could affect U.S.
citizens living abroad if other governments respond by adopting similar
proposals.
The House vote was on an amendment to the Foreign Relations Authorization
Act of 2004-2005, H.R. 1950. The amendment passed by a 226-198 margin,
largely along partisan lines. 23 Democrats joined 203 Republicans in
favor, while 21 Republicans and 176 Democrats opposed the amendment. Each
Member's vote can be found at the following
link: http://clerkweb.house.gov/cgi-bin/vote.exe?year=2003&rollnumber=367.
The House did not vote on final passage of the bill and it is unclear when
it will do so. We also do not know at this time whether a similar
amendment will be offered to the Senate bill.
IMPORTANT: Passage of the Hostettler Amendment in the House makes it even
more critical for advocates to weigh in with the Treasury Department on
whether it should change its regulations permitting banks to accept
consular identification cards. Treasury has asked for comments in a highly
unusual manner that amounts to a type of referendum, including a click-on
yes or no vote.
You can vote and submit as little as one sentence, such as "I oppose any
efforts to prevent banks from accepting consular identification
documents." The deadline for comments is July 31st. If you would like
more information about this issue, check the National Immigration Law
Center website at www.NILC.org.
Anti-immigrant organizations are activating their base to vote on this
issue, and failure of immigrants and their allies to match their numbers
could well be interpreted by Congress and the Administration as a mandate
for restricting the issuance and use of consular identification cards.
You can also go directly to the following link to vote and submit comments
on the Treasury
regulations: http://regcomments.treasury.gov/s.php?su=2&sp=1&camp=TRE030620.
For more information, contact:
Joan Friedland
National Immigration Law Center
1101 14th St., NW, Suite 410
Washington, DC 20005
202-216-0261 (phone)
202-216-0266 (fax)
friedland@nilc-dc.org
Chi Chi Wu
Staff Attorney
National Consumer Law Center
77 Summer St., 10th Fl.
Boston, MA 02110
(v) 617-542-8010
(f) 617-542-8028
cwu@nclc.org
www.consumerlaw.org
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