The Mexican matricula consular card, issued by the many Mexican consulates on our soil, is another tool in the arsenal of the Mexican government to impede the deportation of illegal alien Mexicans.

I wrote articles about the matricula consular way back in 2001 and 2003, you can read them

here and here. 

It's important to point out that the matricula consular is not the same as a Mexican passport. A valid Mexican passport is issued by the Mexican government to a Mexican citizen, and can be a used by a Mexican citizen obtaining legal residency in the U.S. A legal immigrant doesn't need a matricula consular.

What's really crazy though is that so many American entities accept the Mexican document as some sort of legal permission. That's the real problem. If all American states, cities and counties would just refuse to recognize the matricular consular, then Mexican consulates could continue to issue them all they wanted, but they would be useless for purposes of deportation prevention.

The courageous state of Arizona has declared that it will no longer accept this document. Of course, there is some whining about it.

Arizona will no longer recognize photo-ID cards issued by foreign consulates beginning July 20. The state legislature passed the bill as part of a package of illegal-immigration measures. Although some failed to win support, the photo-ID card bill did pass and is about to become law. The ID cards up till now have been the sole form of photo identification for individuals living in another country who do not have a passport or a local driver's license.

Immigrants Worry About Upcoming ID Card Law, June 1st, 2011

State lawmakers who pushed for the change say the consulate-issued cards are too easy to obtain fraudulently and give the inaccurate impression that all cardholders are in the country legally. Immigrant advocates say the new law will leave some immigrants without a form of identification.

Well, that's just proof that they're illegal aliens, now, isn't it?