Mexican Consulate mobile office visits DeKalb

Moises Aramas Olivares, 22, of DeKalb waits in the chapel of Wesleyan Church while filling out forms for a Mexican identification card Friday morning in DeKalb. Chronicle photo HOLLY LUNDH

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DeKALB - About 100 Mexican nationals sat in the pews of the Wesleyan Church waiting to get a "matricula consular." The mobile office of the Mexican Consulate in Chicago made its second stop to DeKalb on Friday. Officials expected to issue 400 identification cards and could provide up to 100 passports and 25 Mexican military IDs each of the two days it was set up at Wesleyan/Nueva Vida Church at 1115 W. Taylor St. This is the second year the office has visited DeKalb. The matricula, a Mexican ID card, is available to Mexican people to provide them with verifiable identification, regardless of immigration status. The consulate started its mobile office about five years ago and issues an average of 500 cards each day, Mexican Consul Julio Huerta said. The Chicago office of the Mexican Consulate serves Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin and northern Indiana. "We do this to help people," Huerta said. "Instead of losing a work day by going to Chicago, they can come here." The consulate's staff does not ask information about legal status. The office only provides the IDs to people who prove they are Mexican nationals with verifiable documents such as birth certificates, Mexican voter's registration cards or Mexican school diplomas. The card is $26 and is accepted as valid identification at schools and banks. The consulate's visit was sponsored by the church, The National Bank & Trust Co. and Taxco Restaurant in Sycamore. Jose Molina, 18, of Genoa wanted to get an ID card on Friday. He came with three friends who were in line to get their picture taken while he sat and waited. "I didn't have what I needed," he said in Spanish. "I'll have to come back tomorrow." He had a birth certificate, but he said he was told he needed another form of identification with a photo such as his school diploma. Molina said he left that at home. "Some people oppose the matricula," Huerta said. "But it is a secure ID card." He demonstrated the authenticity of each card by using a "decoder," a piece of plastic the size of the card which when placed over the face of the card shows identifying marks. The decoder is issued to banks, police and other groups that would need to prove the cards are valid. Others who waited on Friday needed passports such as Elsa Salas' two children. Salas said the children's resident alien cards had the wrong birth date and the passports would help the process of getting them fixed. Salas from Zacatecas, Mexico, and her two children, Homero Marquez Salas, 6, and Marina Marquez Salas, 10, have been living in the United States for about five years. The consulate will continue to issue IDs from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. today at the church. Aracely Hernandez can be reached at ahernandez@ pulitzer.net.