Elton Gallegly: “Mr. Chairman, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security have serious national security concerns regarding the…”

“Mr. Chairman, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security have serious national security concerns regarding the issuance of consular cards. The FBI concluded the matricula consular is not a reliable form of identification due to the nonexistence of any means to verify the true identity of the card holder. The FBI also testified that, although there are many generations of the Mexican consular card, 90 percent of those in circulation are the older generation, which are very vulnerable to counterfeit and forgery. The truth is that Poland, Mexico, Nicaragua, and other countries that are trying to expand their consular ID programs in the United States are doing so in an effort to allow illegal immigrants to receive services to which they are not entitled. One service is the ability to use such cards to board commercial airplanes. Mr. Chairman, this is a dramatic step backwards toward the type of security we had before 9/11. In addition, the six countries currently expanding the consular card programs could easily be 60 in the next few years. I strongly urge my colleagues to advocate that the United States Federal Government, through the Department of State, regulate the issuance of those cards.”