SANTA ANA (US), Jan 16: For Mexicans living in the US illegally and hoping to stay in the country under President Barack Obama’s new immigration policy, things just got one step simpler.
Yesterday, the Mexican government began issuing birth certificates to its citizens at its consulates in the United States.
That will make it a little easier for Mexicans hoping to obtain US work permits, driver’s licenses and protection from deportation.
Up until now, Mexico required its citizens to get birth certificates at government offices in Mexico. Many of those living in this country had to ask friends and relatives back home to retrieve the paperwork.
Pedro Zamora, a 52-year-old cook in Southern California, took advantage of the new program to obtain his birth certificate at the Mexican consulate in Santa Ana, California. He plans to apply for a California driver’s license this week.
Before the change too place, Zamora had to ask his sister-in-law to pick up his son’s and daughter’s birth certificates in Colima, Mexico, so they could apply for Obama’s immigration program for those brought to the US illegally as children. But Zamora said the paperwork got lost in the mail twice.
“It would take seven or 15 days and there was a risk of losing it,” Zamora said.
While Republicans in Congress are trying to undo Obama’s plan to shield millions of immigrants living illegally in the US from deportation, Mexico is trying to help them stay here and continue sending money back to relatives across the border.
About half the 11 million immigrants living in the US illegally are from Mexico, and immigration experts say roughly 3 million of them could be eligible under the administration’s plan.
Immigrants will probably need to produce photo identification such as a passport to apply for the program. And to get a Mexican passport, they need a birth certificate.
That has proved to be a problem for many Mexican immigrants.
Those who cross the border illegally to reach the United States rarely carry documents with them on the treacherous journey, partly to avoid detection. And many Mexicans born in remote, rural communities do not make the necessary journey to the nearest government office to start the process of obtaining a birth certificate. (AGENCIES)
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