The Mexican matricula consular ID card: safe or sorry? (2003)
On January 8, 2003 Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform and the Metropolitan State College of Denver (MSCD) Office of Student Activities put on a public debate and discussion on the Mexican matricula consular ID card.
CAIRCO edited and produced a 57-minute video tape of this important, timely and provocative debate.
Panelists
Panelists included:
Ann Allott: immigration attorney, speaker, author.
Richard D. Lamm: former three-term Gov. of Colorado; co-author, The Immigration Time Bomb; member, CAIR Council of Advisors.
Donna L. Lipinski: immigration attorney; currently serving on the Board of Governors nationally for the American Immigration Lawyers Association; spearheaded movement to provide immigration category for Essential Workers and has served on its committee since its formation in 1997.
Michelle Malkin: syndicated columnist and author of the best-selling book Invasion.
Mike McGarry: CAIRCO co-director and spokesman; Colorado State Long-Term Care Ombudsman; currently writing a to-be-published research paper on the effects of mass immigration on senior citizens.
David N. Simmons: practicing immigration attorney since 1986; Adjunct Professor of immigration law at the University of Denver, College of Law; past chapter chair of the Colorado Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association; former honorary legal counsel to the Mexican Consulate General in Denver.
Moderator
The debate moderator was Dr. Joel Edelstein: Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of Colorado, Boulder; with extensive experience moderating forums and debates.
Book signing
Michelle Malkin signed copies of her book "Invasion" prior to and after the debate.
Excerpts from the debate
Michelle Malkin: But for me, and I think for most Americans, the issue of national security is paramount. We have to ask whether or not widespread acceptance of this card by many local and state and Federal level agencies as well as businesses in the private sector is a good thing from the standpoint of national security, and I think the honest answer is "Hell no!".
David N. Simmons: I agree with Michelle: I am very concerned about national security. I am very concerned about unrepaired broken fences... We have almost half a century of failed immigration enforcement in this country.
Our immigration policy is flawed and we need to quit talking about making it difficult and start talking about what we can do to move forward in the international world where Chicago by car is just as far away as Hong Kong by airplane in the 21st century.
Dick Lamm: The same rights that we give to Mexico to issue their own ID card would have to be put out to Guatemala and Poland and Ireland and where else? And all of a sudden - think it through - you are going to have 25, 50, 120 countries all issuing their own national ID cards. If you accept one, there is no valid reason not to accept others. And it seems to me you can't have that - as every house needs a door, every country needs a border.
Donna Lipinski: We're all talking about this identification document as if it has some kind of immigration significance. It doesn't. It's simply an ID document. What are we so afraid of? Why are we so xenophobic?
Mike McGarry: This card is not what it is represented to be. There is absolutely no integrity in the issuing process. It is a sham card issued on the strength of faith, by agents of a corrupt government to their illegal aliens residing in our country.
