Associated Press
BOISE, Idaho — Rep. Bill Sali, R-Idaho, is urging Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice to hold off opening a Mexican consulate in Idaho until the government can show the office won't aid illegal aliens.
Sali, a conservative first-term congressman, sent Rice a letter Wednesday saying Idaho residents deserve guarantees that Mexican consular offices will not help illegal aliens obtain identification cards that can be used to receive government services or other benefits.
"Our government has the moral and constitutional duty to take into consideration how foreign consulates affect our fellow citizens here in our own country," Sali wrote in the letter to Rice that was made available to news media.
"While I appreciate the important role that the Mexican and other foreign consulates play in facilitating trade and assisting their citizens in distress just as our foreign consulates do, that is not the issue at stake here," he added.
Sali asserted that the State Department has done little to assure residents that a consular office would not be used to aid illegal immigration.
Posted by tyne at May 1, 2008