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“TRANSPORTATION, TREASURY, AND INDEPENDENT AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2005” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1652-E1653 on Sept. 17, 2004.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
TRANSPORTATION, TREASURY, AND INDEPENDENT AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT,
2005
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speech of
HON. ROBERT MENENDEZ
of new jersey
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 5025) making appropriations for the Departments of Transportation and Treasury, and independent agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2005, and for other purposes:
Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of the Oxley-
Frank amendment that would strike section 216 from the Transportation Appropriations bill.
Last July, I stood on this floor and said that the Hostettler amendment to the Foreign Relation Authorization Act was ``a thinly veiled attempt to end something called the matricula consular.'' Well, here we are a year later and there is no longer a pretense as to what my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are trying to accomplish.
During consideration at the Appropriations Subcommittee level, Representative Culberson offered an amendment that prohibits the Department of the Treasury from implementing regulations which allow Mexico's matricula consular card to be used as a form of identification when opening a bank account. This amendment was retained at the full committee even though Treasury Secretary Snow wrote in July to the chairman requesting that this specific provision be removed.
Over and over again, select Members on the other side of the aisle have shown their true feelings about issues of the immigrant communities, and often, specifically the Hispanic community. Section 216 is no exception since it targets Mexican nationals. Why do I say this? Because only the matricula consular, out of all the identity documents in the United States, would be explicitly banned by this section of the bill.
Contrary to what the supporters of section 216 contend, Mexico and other foreign governments have been issuing consular identification cards to foreign nationals in the United States precisely following the guidelines established by the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.
Representative Culberson implies that it is impossible to verify the true identity of a person who holds a matricula consular card because they can be obtained fraudulently. This is equally as true of other ID cards as with U.S. driver's licenses. In fact, 7 of the 19 terrorist hijackers of September 11 were known to have illegally obtained Virginia's drivers licenses. Yet this provision would ban only the matricula consular, which has been issued by the Embassy of Mexico for over 132 years.
Let's talk about what this whole debate is really about. It is about our country's public safety and national security, our homeland security, and our financial security.
Use of the Mexican consular identification card improves our Nation's public safety and national security because it provides a reliable and accurate method to identify Mexican nationals. Today, approximately 1,100 police departments accept the matricula consular to identify suspects, witnesses, and people who report crimes and suspicious activity.
Use of the Mexican consular identification card improves our Nation's homeland security. It combats the financing of international terrorism and money laundering by ensuring that U.S. financial institutions have accurate and reliable information on their clients.
And use of the matricula consular improves our nation's financial security and economy and prevents people from sending money illegally across the border. With this card, Mexican workers in the United States can send money legally using the banking system, which functions within federal law. Today, approximately 350 financial institutions accept the card as a valid form of identification.
Mr. Chairman, this amendment is supported by:
The Bush White House in a Statement of Administration Policy dated today;
The Department of Treasury in a letter from Secretary Snow dated yesterday;
The Department of Justice, including the FBI;
A large part of the financial services sector: The American Bankers Association; America's Community Bankers; the Bankers' Association for Finance and Trade; the National Association of Federal Credit Unions; the Credit Union National Association; the Financial Services Roundtable; the Independent Community Bankers of America; the Securities Industry Association;
The National Council of La Raza;
The Mexican American Legal Defense Educational Fund; and
The National Immigration Law Center.
Finally, over 80 percent of the 34,000 comments received on the actual Treasury Department rulemaking under Section 326 of the USA PATRIOT Act agreed with the original regulations.
So, this amendment is broadly supported because it is the right thing to do for our country's national security, homeland security, and financial security. I strongly urge my colleagues to vote for the Oxley-Frank amendment and against this outrageous and dangerous provision.
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