June 11, 2003
Consulate updates passports
Hundreds attend Mexican Mobile Consulate in Traverse City
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Mexican citizens working seasonally in the United States got a helping hand Saturday courtesy of the Mexican Consulate of Detroit.
The office brought their Mexican Mobile Consulate to Blair Elementary School for an all-day visit, drawing hundreds of Mexican citizens in the area for help updating their identification. The Traverse City Area Public School District's 21st Century Learning Center Grant sponsored the visit by the mobile consulate.
Every two weeks the mobile consulate travels from Detroit to an area in its district, which includes Michigan and northern Ohio, to help serve its community.
"We are serving the Mexican community in Traverse City and all of northern Michigan," said Antonio Meza Estrada, Consul of Mexico. "This program wants to provide service for people inside their community because it is not easy to drive to Detroit because they would lose one working day."
The mobile consulate offered either a Mexican passport update or a Matricula Consular identification. These legal documents provide access to services, banking, jobs and education, noted Miguel Osorio, owner of Osorio El Mexicana in Traverse City.
"These are legal documents for Mexican citizens," said Osorio, who invited the consulate to visit. "The object is the help the Mexican community here."
Osorio was not surprised by the heavy turnout at the event, where at times lines stretched out the door of the school.
"I know Traverse City and around Traverse City, there could be more of them but a lot are not here yet because the crops are not ready," he said.
The Mexican Consulate of Detroit also brought along a variety of educational materials in Spanish for attendees. In addition, a number of organizations were on hand with information, including the Social Security Administration, the Family Independence Agency, Northwest Michigan Human Services, representatives from the Immaculate Conception Hispanic Ministry and area banks.
Camerino Barcenas of Williamsburg attended the event to obtain a Matricula Consular identification. With his wife, Lorena, and two young children in tow, Barcenas completed the paperwork, wound his way through lines, was photographed and finally obtain his identification card.
"It is needed more in Mexico because he lives here and his family is there and we can go visit his family easier now," said Lorena of her husband, who works for Morrison Orchards in Williamsburg. "He is a permanent alien, has a green card, so this is just a little bit extra."
Estrada also noted that having updated paperwork is crucial since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
"Particularly now with security, it is important that they have documents showing that they are not terrorists," he said.
The Matricula Consular document also provides quick access to family information back in Mexico. "Also, with this card, we can contact relatives in Mexico in case of an emergency," Estrada noted.
Thirty volunteers from the community helped throughout the day, doing everything from assist with paperwork to watching children. Students from Traverse City Central High School were on hand to help in the daycare room.
"I really want to be bilingual," said Tiffani Cascadden, an 11th grade, third-year Spanish student at Central. "They won't talk to you until they realize you speak Spanish."