One notable impact of SB 1070, even in the truncated form that emerged from Judge Susan Bolton’s partial injunction, is the desire on the part of illegal aliens to flee to neighboring states. One of the most compassionate towards the “undocumented” seems to be the state of Utah, which allows them to obtain driver’s licenses without documentation.
This comes in handy when the documents you have are either fradulent, or do not exist.
“It’s difficult being undocumented and not having an identification,” said Hernandez, of Puebla, Mexico. “You can use the Mexican ID, but people look down on it.” An American driver’s license is also a requirement for many jobs.
The Mexican ID alluded to by Mr. Hernandez is known as a matricula consular, which is essentially an identification card issued by the government of Mexico to its citizens regardless of emigration status. However, most Mexican nationals that are in this country legally have a legitimate form of identification. For example, if they are permanent residents they have a green card, if they are traveling to this country on a tourist or student visa they have one of those, or-if they are United States citizens, then they have a Social Security card.
So essentially, the matricula consular is a vehicle for Mexican nationals living here illegally, i.e. those with no valid, legitimate form of identification, to embed themselves within American society. And as much as it behooves banks looking for new customers, and politicians looking to ingratiate themselves with the Mexican government, to welcome the proliferation of matricula cards, it turns out to not be such a great deal for the average American citizen, as Heather MacDonald of the Manhattan Institute points out in a brilliant essay published by City Journal several years ago.
The fact that non-enforcement, illegal alien-friendly states like Utah and New Mexico are attracting those illegal refugees from Arizona with such inducements as driver’s licenses just serves to illustrate why we need to carry on this battle on a state-by-state basis until we are able to force the federal government to fulfill its commitments. It should be noted that the main goal of SB 1070, and one that, despite judicial intervention, is being accomplished, is to dissuade illegal aliens from coming to, or residing in, the state.
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