Hal Netkin, PO Box 3465, Van Nuys, CA 91407

Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr.

2449 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20515-4905

November 29, 2004

SUB: HR 10 Intel Bill

Dear Mr. Sensenbrenner:

First, let me commend your courageous stand against those in the House and Senate who would compromise the security of their constituents for their own special interests. Please don't cave in to them. Following is some important information concerning Matricual cards and driver's licenses.

The latest version of the Matricula Consular ID which the Mexican government lauds as "non-forgeable" is the type presently being issued and which supersedes an earlier version which was issued until 2002. From the FBI (see attachment), about 90 percent of all Matricula cards  in circulation are of the earlier version which have expiration dates to 2007. Because the validity of the earlier version is hard to tell even by Mexican authorities, it has become the choice of those desiring fake Matricula Consular IDs. Fake document vendors in the Mac Arthur Park section of Los Angeles who boldly operate in the open without fear while LAPD black and whites pass uninterested. It is so easy to obtain these fake documents, that I have obtained an older version of the Matricula Consular ID card with your name and photo on it (downloaded from the Internet) which I have enclosed.

The Mexican Government claims that their new "secure" ID card cannot be foiled because law enforcement authorities can use a  transparent plastic decoder to test a street manufactured Matricula against a Matricula produced by the Mexican Consulate. However, it should be noted that the physical "authenticity" of the Matricula card should be regarded as one of the less relevant security concerns, since even "genuine" Matriculas can be obtained fraudulently if the applicant presents to the consulate, an easily forged birth certificate, a stolen birth certificate, or a borrowed birth certificate. Moreover, from a California Public Information Request, rank and file LAPD officers not trained on detecting a false Matricula, do not carry decoder kits nor are they even required to verify the authenticity of Matricula Cards (see attachment from LAPD). Although a Mexican consulate official could probably tell a real Matricula from a fake one, I will bet my house that an LAPD or LASD officer wouldn't know the difference (and wouldn't know what to do if they did).

My brother-in-law, Alejandro, who chose to illegally cross the border from Mexico even though he could have come legally (see my Daily News Op-Ed attached), lucked out in being present in the U.S. in April of 2000 when congress authorized a temporary "245(i)" provision which allowed illegals to apply for legal residency status without having to leave the U.S. In order for me to file the papers for Alejandro, I needed his birth certificate which I requested from my mother-in-law who lives outside of Mexico City, to get three copies and send back to me. She had to take the bus about 150 miles to Huamuxtitlan, the village in the State of Guerrero where Alejandro (and my wife) was born. There she obtained three certified birth certificates for Alejandro and three each for two other of my wife's siblings who also are petitioning to immigrate, and mailed the nine birth certificates to me.

I have it from a reliable source that actual birth certificates are being obtained through contacts in Mexico who do just what my mother-in-law did -- obtain real birth certificates sinisterly through paid relatives and friends in Mexico who mail them back to the U.S. for fraudulent use. The fake document vendors then sell the "real McCoys" to any Hispanic for big bucks, who not only wants a genuine birth certificate, but also wants a complete change in identity. This is particularly attractive for many Mexicans who were born in small villages who never obtained birth certificates. In a scenario where a Mexican criminal wanted to obtain several Matriculas with different information but with the same photo, he could obtain several "real" birth certificates and obtain several different "real" Matriculas at different consulates.

I am in disbelief when I hear local law enforcement and legislative officials say that the IDs give local government the opportunity to verify the identity of the card carrier.There is no way to verify the information on the card. An illegal alien criminal who arrived last week has no criminal history on file in the U.S. It is noteworthy that a postmortem background check of all nineteen 9-11 terrorists who all had valid driver's licenses, revealed that they did not have any criminal record. That shouldn't be surprising since there was no criminal history on any of them in the U.S.

Beyond a list of those to whom the IDs have been issued, the Mexican Consulate does not have a comprehensive database on all the current holders of Matricula cards. There is absolutely no way for a police officer to do an on-the-spot  "make" on someone using the card.

Frequently, when some law enforcement officials are reminded about the ease of producing fake Matriculas, they counter that California driver's licenses can also be easily forged (and they are). But such statements reflect either purposeful deceit or gross naivety. In a scenario where a person presents a fake California driver's license to a law enforcement officer, that officer upon accessing information on his/her mobile computer or by radio call to the state's capital, would know instantly that the driver's license presented is a fake and would have probable cause to arrest the suspect. But in a scenario where a person presented a fake Matricula, there would be absolutely no way for a law enforcement officer to verify the validity of the ID. The officer would have to allow the Matricula holder to go on his/her way without knowing if that person was wanted for any crime by any law enforcement agency.

The Matricula Consular IDs are so unreliable, that a Mexican or Mexican-American fugitive who already has a valid California driver's license could easily get a new identity by obtaining an unverifiable Matricula and using it instead of the valid license.

I have enclosed an Editorial printed in the Los Angeles Daily News dealing with both Matricula Consular IDs and driver's licenses for illegal immigrants.

If you think it would do good, I am willing to testify on the subject matter.

Sincerely

Hal Netkin

818-989-2201