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U.S. NEWSMonday 7 December 2015
AP Exclusive: Texas birth certificate rules often unenforced
WILL WEISSERT past three years that they McAllen, wrote in a 2013 whether the Mexican ID is consulate in Austin saying
SETH ROBBINS were allowing parents to survey response. “There- acceptable.
Associated Press get copies of birth cer- fore our office accepts the Texas says it doesn’t trust federal authorities had
BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP)
— For seven years, Texas determined the matricula
said it won’t accept Mexi-
can identification cards consular wasn’t a “secure”
when issuing birth certifi-
cates for children of peo- form of identification and
ple in the United States
illegally. But it doesn’t ap- that it therefore wouldn’t
pear to have stepped up
enforcement until recent- be accepted for people
ly, amid mounting political
pressure to get tougher on obtaining birth certificates
immigration, records ob-
tained by The Associated for their newborns.
Press show.
That could validate com- The state began spelling
plaints from immigrant par-
ents suing in federal court, out that policy in registrar
claiming the state is deny-
ing “birthright” U.S. citizen- handbooks in 2010.
ship for their Texas-born
children guaranteed un- But the survey results show
der the 14th Amendment
to the U.S. Constitution. some registrars repeatedly
The AP used open records
requests to get annual admitting to accepting the
“self-assessment” surveys
completed by local reg- Mexican documents since
istrars. They show that of-
ficials in at least five cities 2013, the furthest back the
and counties along the
U.S.-Mexico border told the state keeps records, and
Texas Department of State
Health Services during the Texas officials not asking
them to stop doing so until
recently — if at all.
The Department of State
Health Services oversees
Texas’ Vital Statistics Unit.
A woman in Sullivan City, Texas, who said she entered the country illegally, walks with her It reports issuing just one
daughter who was born in the United States, but was denied a birth certificate.
cease and desist letter to a
(AP Photo/Eric Gay)
county registrar in Browns-
tificates using a Mexican matricula consular so they the matricula consular be- ville who was accepting
identification known as the can obtain the birth certifi- cause of forgery fears, not the matricula consular,
matricula consular. cate for their children who politics. Hospitals provide
“Most of applicants are were born here.” documentation of births and that didn’t come until
here illegally as they Elsewhere along the bor- in Texas, but parents have
claim, and are therefore der, Arizona generally to obtain birth certificates this July.
Two months later, it wrote
letters instructing against
unable to obtain a valid doesn’t accept the ma- from registrars or other of- accepting the Mexican
form of identification from tricula consular, while ficials.
the United States,” Janie New Mexico does. Cali- In 2008, the health depart- document in response to
Madero, then-registrar in fornia lets notaries decide ment wrote to the Mexican
inquiries from registrars in
Dallas and nearby McKin-
ney.
Expert: Those three letters were all
Video shows slain boy’s hands in pockets when shot the state provided when
asked for correspondence
related to the matricula
CLEVELAND (AP) — A the report released late Fri- Loehmann, told investiga- a second, according to consular since 2008. Health
12-year-old boy killed by day night by attorneys for tors he repeatedly ordered the review by California-
Cleveland police last year Tamir’s family. the boy to “show me your based shooting recon- services spokesman Chris
had his hands in his pock- The new report and two hands” then saw him pull- struction expert Jesse Wo-
ets when he was shot and others from experts al- ing a weapon from his brock. Van Deusen subsequently
wasn’t reaching for the ready used by the family waistband before opening With the patrol car win-
pellet gun he was carrying, are the latest analysis of fire. dows rolled up, Tamir said his department had
according to an expert evidence to be released It turned out Tamir was car- could not have heard
hired by the boy’s fam- as a grand jury considers rying a nonlethal gun that commands to show his “identified some addition-
ily to review a frame-by- whether to bring charges shoots plastic pellets when hands, Wobrock added.
frame video of the deadly against the officers. Loehmann shot him. Tamir “The scientific analysis and al communications with
encounter. The boy was shot after au- died a day later. timing involved do not
Tamir Rice did not have thorities received a report Previous reports conclud- support any claim that local registrars about the
enough time to remove of a man pointing and ed that Loehmann shot there was a meaningful
his hands from his pockets waving a gun outside a Tamir within 2 seconds of exchange between Offi- matricula” but that the
before being shot and his recreation center in No- opening his car door. The cer Loehmann and Tamir
hands were not visible to vember 2014. The officer new analysis determined it Rice, before he was shot,” lawsuit made those confi-
the officer, according to who fired at Tamir, Timothy happened within less than Wobrock said.q
dential.
Immigration attorneys
suggest that the state
only got serious about en-
forcement after women
and children from Central
America began pouring
over Texas’ southern bor-
der last summer.q
