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FORD VICE-PRESIDENT ACQUIRES MEXICAN CITIZENSHIP, ID CARD
December 6, 2003
BY ALEJANDRO BODIPO-MEMBA FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
www.freep.com/money/autonews/id6_20031206.htm
Ford Motor Co. Executive Vice President James Padilla became one of Detroit's most prominent Mexican citizens Friday, receiving his citizenship and the controversial Matricula Consular identification card.
Padilla's symbolic gesture was a bold move politically and from a business standpoint, considering his position with the world's second-largest automaker.
Matricula Consular cards are the focal point of a heated national debate. Supporters, like Padilla, say Mexican nationals need access to valid photo identification to conduct everyday business. Opponents say wide use of the cards is a smoke screen for Mexicans to enter the United States illegally.
Padilla acknowledges the card is used by some undocumented Mexicans to stay in the United States illegally. But he points to the hundreds of thousands of Mexicans across the country and in Michigan who are here legally and work and pay taxes and who can benefit from the consular ID cards.
"I've lived overseas and I know, to get integrated into a new society, you have to have ID in that society," said Padilla, a Detroit native who now has dual citizenship in the United States and Mexico.
In Michigan, about 3,000 cards have been issued in the last five years, according to Mexican Consul General Antonio Meza Estrada.
Several cities including Detroit, Pontiac and Lansing are among 402 municipalities across the country that recognize the cards for official business.
Any citizen of Mexico who has lived in the United States -- legally or illegally -- for at least six months can apply for the card, which is valid for five years.
Anti-immigration groups such as the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), based in Washington, D.C., say the purpose of the cards is to achieve de facto legalization of illegal residents.
Officials at FAIR also say communities that accept them are caving in to the Mexican government. Mexican President Vicente Fox has been pushing the U.S. government to accept the card and amnesty for undocumented Mexicans.
Supporters of the card say it's a good way for Mexican nationals to adhere to U.S. laws by carrying valid picture identification.
"My grandfather migrated from Mexico in the teens and raised his family here," said Padilla, whose brother Gerald also received his Mexican citizenship and ID card. "We've been fortunate beneficiaries."
Padilla, 57, is executive vice president at Ford and the company's president of the Americas. He's responsible for all operations in the development, manufacturing, marketing and sales of Ford, Mercury and Lincoln vehicles in the United States, Canada, Mexico and South America.
He was joined Friday by nine others in a swearing-in ceremony at the Mexican Consulate in Detroit. All participants in the ceremony retain their U.S. citizenship.
"I've been wanting to do this for awhile," said Maria Alfaro Lopez, an assistant Wayne County prosecutor who received her Mexican citizenship and consular ID Friday.
Alfaro Lopez is chief of the forfeiture division of the prosecutor's office. "I'm very proud of my Mexican heritage," she said. "But I'm also a first-generation, born in this country, and I'm very proud of being an American."
The Mexican-American dream being realized by Padilla, Alfaro Lopez and the others Friday was that of reaching back to claim cultural roots that in some cases date to the 19th Century.
Contact: ALEJANDRO BODIPO-MEMBA at 313-222-5008 - or - [email protected] article: www.freep.com/money/autonews/id6_20031206.htm
FORD VICE-PRESIDENT ACQUIRES MEXICAN CITIZENSHIP, ID CARD
December 6, 2003
BY ALEJANDRO BODIPO-MEMBA FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
www.freep.com/money/autonews/id6_20031206.htm
Ford Motor Co. Executive Vice President James Padilla became one of Detroit's most prominent Mexican citizens Friday, receiving his citizenship and the controversial Matricula Consular identification card.
Padilla's symbolic gesture was a bold move politically and from a business standpoint, considering his position with the world's second-largest automaker.
Matricula Consular cards are the focal point of a heated national debate. Supporters, like Padilla, say Mexican nationals need access to valid photo identification to conduct everyday business. Opponents say wide use of the cards is a smoke screen for Mexicans to enter the United States illegally.
Padilla acknowledges the card is used by some undocumented Mexicans to stay in the United States illegally. But he points to the hundreds of thousands of Mexicans across the country and in Michigan who are here legally and work and pay taxes and who can benefit from the consular ID cards.
"I've lived overseas and I know, to get integrated into a new society, you have to have ID in that society," said Padilla, a Detroit native who now has dual citizenship in the United States and Mexico.
In Michigan, about 3,000 cards have been issued in the last five years, according to Mexican Consul General Antonio Meza Estrada.
Several cities including Detroit, Pontiac and Lansing are among 402 municipalities across the country that recognize the cards for official business.
Any citizen of Mexico who has lived in the United States -- legally or illegally -- for at least six months can apply for the card, which is valid for five years.
Anti-immigration groups such as the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), based in Washington, D.C., say the purpose of the cards is to achieve de facto legalization of illegal residents.
Officials at FAIR also say communities that accept them are caving in to the Mexican government. Mexican President Vicente Fox has been pushing the U.S. government to accept the card and amnesty for undocumented Mexicans.
Supporters of the card say it's a good way for Mexican nationals to adhere to U.S. laws by carrying valid picture identification.
"My grandfather migrated from Mexico in the teens and raised his family here," said Padilla, whose brother Gerald also received his Mexican citizenship and ID card. "We've been fortunate beneficiaries."
Padilla, 57, is executive vice president at Ford and the company's president of the Americas. He's responsible for all operations in the development, manufacturing, marketing and sales of Ford, Mercury and Lincoln vehicles in the United States, Canada, Mexico and South America.
He was joined Friday by nine others in a swearing-in ceremony at the Mexican Consulate in Detroit. All participants in the ceremony retain their U.S. citizenship.
"I've been wanting to do this for awhile," said Maria Alfaro Lopez, an assistant Wayne County prosecutor who received her Mexican citizenship and consular ID Friday.
Alfaro Lopez is chief of the forfeiture division of the prosecutor's office. "I'm very proud of my Mexican heritage," she said. "But I'm also a first-generation, born in this country, and I'm very proud of being an American."
The Mexican-American dream being realized by Padilla, Alfaro Lopez and the others Friday was that of reaching back to claim cultural roots that in some cases date to the 19th Century.
Contact: ALEJANDRO BODIPO-MEMBA at 313-222-5008 - or - [email protected] article: www.freep.com/money/autonews/id6_20031206.htm
