Officers May Accept ID Cards Issued by Mexico

Orange County law enforcement leaders expect to announce a plan later this month in which police officers would accept cards issued by the Mexican government as proof of identity during police stops.

Police chiefs from around the county voted unanimously last month to draw up guidelines for the plan, which is designed to ease simmering tensions between police and local immigrant-rights groups over the treatment of illegal immigrants.

Police officials in Anaheim and elsewhere have been criticized for detaining people who cannot show valid identification, even those accused of minor offenses that normally don’t lead to arrest. Once in jail, immigration authorities are allowed to check their residency status and, in some cases, deport them if they are in the country illegally.

Under the new proposal, officers would be allowed to cite and release people accused of minor offenses, such as speeding or jay-walking, if they are carrying the consulate’s ID card.

“None of the chiefs support people being in the country illegally, but that’s not the issue,” said Laguna Beach Police Chief Jim Spreine, president of the Orange County Chiefs of Police and Sheriff’s Assn. “We recognize that our job is not immigration.”

The identification cards, or matriculas consulares, are issued by Mexican consulates throughout the world to the country’s citizens as proof of nationality.

The card is the only document needed for Mexican nationals crossing the border from the United States, said Miguel Angel Isidro, the Mexican consul in Santa Ana.

“There are a lot of people who don’t have California IDs and can’t prove their identities,” Isidro said. “We found these cards were not known here by the authorities.”

Spreine said consulate officials gave a presentation about the identification cards last month at the request of police chiefs.

Each card includes a name, address and date of birth, Spreine said. It also includes a serial number issued by the consulate that can be checked by police officers to make sure the card is not counterfeit.

Some chiefs, Spreine said, still have concerns that the cards can be issued to people with criminal records in Mexico. But overall, the proposal has won widespread support from police officials, who hope to improve their departments’ relationship with Latino residents, he said.

“It increases our problems when we take a hard-working person off the street and we remove them from their family and their family’s ability to support themselves,” Spreine said. “The chiefs thought that wasn’t reasonable, that there must be a better way.”

The county’s police chiefs and sheriff are scheduled to discuss how best to implement the plan at a meeting Wednesday, he said.

Among the most vocal proponents of the idea, Spreine said, is Anaheim Police Chief Roger Baker, who has drawn intense criticism for his city’s cooperation with immigration authorities.

Under directions from the City Council, Anaheim police routinely allow INS agents to question people detained at the city’s jails about their legal or citizenship status, raising the chances that illegal immigrants detained in the city will face deportation.

The identification card plan won strong support from activists who have criticized police in the past.

“It’s a great idea,” said Amin David, president of the Latino activist group Los Amigos of Orange County. “It establishes the identity of an individual in instances where, normally, the individual would be [detained] for having no identification.”

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Times staff writer David Haldane contributed to this report.