The ID card, issued by the Mexican government, is used by millions of Mexican immigrants.

SERGIO BUSTOS
Gannett News Service

WASHINGTON - A Texas lawmaker wants to prohibit banks from accepting the Mexican government's popular "matricula consular," an identification card used by millions of Mexican immigrants in the United States.

Saying the card represents a threat to national security, Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas, is pushing House colleagues this week to approve an amendment to a fiscal 2005 spending bill that would bar U.S. banks from accepting the matricula consular as identification.

But a bipartisan group of House members, led by lawmakers from Ohio, Massachusetts, Arizona and Texas, is proposing a separate amendment that would kill Culberson's proposal.

As members of the House yesterday were debating the amendment to quash Culberson's amendment, Rep. Raúl Grijalva told the Tucson Citizen the cards present no security threat and are widely recognized as identification.

"This allows people to have financial services in this country," Grijalva said. "In order to get one, you have to go to the consulate, so there's a security element to it. American consulates throughout the world issue these to Americans who happen to be living in other parts of the world. This is not about giving people a drivers license. This is not about giving people permanent residency. I think people are trying to tie this to other issues when it is an identification issue."

A vote on the dueling amendments could occur as early as today.

Culberson, citing warnings from a top FBI official who testified before Congress last year, said the matricula consular is prone to fraud and should be barred as proof of identity.

Criminals could use the card to get drivers licenses or bank accounts, Culberson said in a statement.

Opponents of his proposal counter that it would hurt efforts to fight terrorism because it would prevent the federal government from requiring banks to verify a customer's identity.

"This debate is not about immigration - it is about law enforcement's ability to track terrorist finances," Reps. Michael Oxley, R-Ohio, and Barney Frank, D-Mass., said in a letter to House colleagues.

Culberson's arguments also haven't swayed the White House.

"The administration believes as a general matter that Americans are better protected if consumers of all nationalities are invited into the financial mainstream," Treasury Secretary John Snow wrote in a letter this week to House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.

More than 1.5 million Mexicans in the United States carry the matricula, which is accepted as identification by more than 80 banks nationwide, including Wells Fargo, Citibank and Bank of America.

The Mexican government has been issuing the matricula to its citizens living abroad since 1871. It redesigned the card in 2002 in response to heightened U.S. security concerns following the 2001 terrorist attacks. It also launched a successful public-relations campaign to persuade scores of banks, police departments and local governments to accept the matricula as valid identification.