Crime & Safety

Mexican Consular Cards Now Valid Form of ID, Say Sonoma County Law Enforcement

Does not replace drivers' license, which undocumented immigrants are still barred from getting.

This article originally apeared on Petaluma Patch

Starting this month, all Sonoma County police departments will start accepting an identity card issued by the Mexican Consulate as a valid form of identification.

The decision to accept the card, known as the matricula consular in Spanish, was reached by the Sonoma County Law Enforcement Chiefs' Association over the past several months and is being lauded as a victory for pro-immigration advocates.

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They have criticized current law enforcement practices, in which people who can't get a California drivers license are taken to jail to be fingerprinted and then deported, according to activist groups. The trend is

However, under the new policy, people stopped for driving without a license will still be cited and face fines and up to six months in jail.

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“This is a victory, but we want people to understand that they won’t be immune from prosecution if stopped for driving without a license,”  said Richard Coshnear, an immigration attorney in Santa Rosa and a member of the Committee on Immigrant Rights of Sonoma County.

The decision is expected to be finalized next week, but will take a couple of months to implement as law enforcement agencies throughout the county train officers on the new protocol, said Petaluma Interim Police Chief Danny Fish.

"We're at the point now that we've decided that we've going to accept it," Fish said. "Part of the reason is that we are completely convinced that obtaining (and forging) these cards is not easy."

Immigrant advocates are also crossing their fingers for a bill currently before Gov. Jerry Brown, that would allow unlicensed drivers who have not broken any other laws to be cited at checkpoints, but keep their cars. Currently, people stopped at DUI checkpoints who are not drunk, but driving without a license have their cars impounded for 30 days, costing them thousands of dollars in storage fees.

On October 23, the Committee on Immigrant Rights of Sonoma County will hold a community meeting with Assistant Sheriff Lorenzo Duenas to discuss accepting the Mexican consular cards countwide. For more information, call 707-571-7559.


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