New Law Violates Civil Liberties

The House’s recent legislation requiring U.S.-based Mexican consulates to provide the State Department with the names and addresses of all recipients of their new identification cards (matrículas) clearly goes in the wrong direction (“Old ID Card Gives New Status to Mexicans in U.S.” (August 25)). The cards’ recent upsurge in popularity among undocumented immigrants and acceptance by local communities has frightened Washington into brazenly seizing private information explicitly belonging to the cardholders and the Mexican government.

The argument that this tracking will facilitate antiterrorism efforts is eclipsed by the drastic ramifications for cardholders’ civil liberties. Although they may lack legal residency, treating them as a priori criminals by demanding private information contradicts the fundamental principles of “innocent until proven guilty” and due process upon which the U.S. prides itself.

Rather than enacting this arbitrary legislation, Representatives should have consulted their local counterparts throughout this country, many of whom have passed pro-matrícula measures because they realized that national security cannot be accomplished by intimidation.

Alan R. Cordova
Research Associate, Council on Hemispheric Affairs
1730 M Street NW, Suite 1010
Washington, D.C. 20036