Members of Oregonians for Immigration Reform (OFIR) protested the issuing of Mexican identification cards, known as matricula consulars, at the High School Equivalency Program building on campus Saturday.
The Mexican Consulate was issuing identification cards to Mexican citizens in the area, allowing them to open bank accounts and obtain driver’s licenses.
OFIR’s protest centered on the distribution of matricula consulars to immigrants who are in the United States illegally, although OFIR vice president Rick Hickey said he didn’t have any proof that anyone being issued cards was an illegal alien.
“I would like them to prove me wrong, that everyone there was legal,” he said.
The event also attracted counter-protesters, some of whom carried signs with slogans such as “We are all American” and “One love, one race.”
Matricula consulars cannot be used to obtain social security numbers, work permits or access to health care programs, according to a press release by the Mexican Consulate. It also states that the card’s purpose is to identify the carrier as a Mexican citizen in the presence of Mexican authorities and in some U.S. cities.
Matricula consulars can be used as one of the two necessary forms of identification to obtain a driver’s license, and proof of citizenship is not required to obtain a driver’s license, according to an employee at the Eugene Department of Motor Vehicles who declined to be identified. The employee also said this policy might be subject to change in the near future.
OFIR President Jim Ludwick said that most of those receiving matricula cards would
logically be illegal aliens. He said that if they
already had passports or green cards, they would be able to obtain driver’s licenses and work permits without matricula cards.
OFIR filmed immigrants receiving their matricula consular cards to see if anyone receiving the cards was from the “America’s Most Wanted” list, Hickey said.
Counter-protesters said that this was a tactic to scare immigrants from getting the cards, according to an article Sunday in The Register-Guard.
Ludwick said that he has been filmed at protests himself and has never seen it as a scare tactic.
“If we’re (accused of) discriminating against illegal aliens, then we’re guilty,” he said.
Hickey said that OFIR is not racist, pointing out that some OFIR are Hispanic. He also said that OFIR isn’t just opposed to illegal immigrants from Mexico.
“If they (illegal immigrants) were from Canada and all white, they would be doing the same thing,” he said.
Although the Mexican-American student organization MEChA held its regional conference over the weekend at the University, the University’s chapter came “to a consensus that we will not have a physical presence as a chapter at the HEP rally,” according to a Friday press release. Individuals or other chapters wishing to attend could “under their own jurisdiction.”
“As an alternative, University of Oregon M.E.Ch.A has decided to provide a space during lunch, in which individuals are encouraged to participate in a letter-writing campaign to the city of Eugene. This campaign will address the lack of concern towards the incident that may occur on February 11, 2006,” according to the statement.
Group members plan to schedule a meeting with the Eugene City Council and Mayor Kitty Piercy to deliver the letters and “discuss their lack of action and support towards the Mexican consulate.”
“As a chapter, we have decided that this is the most strategic move forward at this moment. We hope that you will respect this decision and participate in this positive action,” the statement said.
Orlando Bravo, external affairs director for the University’s MEChA chapter, would not give additional comment.

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