San Joaquin County supervisors plan to consider matricula cards

Even as driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants appear on the horizon, members of the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors will tackle the thorny issue of matricula cards again later this month.

With many Republican members of Congress and the FBI against the card because of national security issues, the effort to accept the Mexican-government issued identification card for Mexican nationals appears doomed.

In May, the board voted to have county agencies report how they're affected by the cards, and how using them could help. The matter goes before the board again on Oct. 14.

But in the face of federal opposition, some county supervisors are thinking twice about going ahead with approval for accepting the cards.

Several supervisors are also asking why the county should formally vote to accept the card if other county agencies, such as the sheriff's department, already do so.

With a matricula card, Mexican nationals living in the United States can open bank accounts and be more easily identified by local law enforcement agencies.

Supervisor Steve Gutierrez, who sponsored the effort in May, said he isn't sure if he wants to go forward with the county legislation.

He said the Mexican consulate general in Sacramento still hasn't answered reservations expressed by Congress and the FBI on the cards.

Gutierrez said he moved on the card partly because state lawmakers encouraged all counties to accept the card as identification, and because the consulate general's office asked him to do so.

"If Congress hasn't taken action, why should we?" he said. "It seems kind of stupid if the federal government says no."

Supervisor Leroy Ornellas said the effort appears to be a duplication of services.

Ornellas said the first time it came before the board, he voted to study the idea rather than adopt it. Those months of study haven't convinced him to vote for adoption now, he said.

He said if law enforcement agencies accept the card as identification, then there is no reason why the county should have an opinion on it.

"Is it to access county services such as the library? The questions have not been answered," he said.

He said the argument that it's needed for identification is moot, since law enforcement agencies already accept it.

But Roberto Radrigian, editor of La Voz newspaper, said because the county oversees the sheriff, it's important for the supervisors to set an acceptance policy.

He said concerns expressed about national security are based on paranoia and hysterics.

Radrigian immigrated to the United States from Chile in 1978.

"It's not special migration papers. It does not allow you to cross the border," he said.

Because the county's agricultural economy depends on migrant farm workers, he said, the cards will help those workers open bank accounts.

But Ornellas said the cost of migrant farm workers is that they don't have health insurance or health benefits.

Either way, Ornellas said the debate around the cards will not be solved in San Joaquin County. According to 2000 census data, the county's foreign-born population increases by 2,000 to 4,000 annually.

And of the county's foreign-born immigrants -- there are 109,812 of them, according to the 2000 U.S. Census -- 51.4 percent were born in Mexico.

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