A Consul Like No Other
The woman was having a routine conversation with Mexican Consul Luis Miguel Ortiz Haro about her need for an identification card when she broke down in tears.
Ignoring the commotion of his Santa Ana office -- the phones, the bustling aides, the dozens of people waiting to see him -- Ortiz Haro listened intently as she explained that she was anguished over an entirely different issue: She had paid $180 for a list of low-rent apartments, only to discover they didn't exist.
This past week, Ortiz Haro found seven other victims of the scam and is getting the group an attorney. He is also trying to get authorities to look for an American baby believed kidnapped in Mexico, arrange for the release of a 12-year-old Mexican boy from Orange County juvenile hall and collect money for a 24-year-old woman whose 5-year-old son was killed by a car in La Habra.
It was, for the gregarious and affable Ortiz Haro, all in a week's work as his government's chief diplomat in Orange County -- a consul like no other.
His job is to deal with such parochial issues as issuing passports and attending official functions. But Ortiz Haro, say those who watch him at work, is more the passionate godfather than starchy bureaucrat -- a man more likely to lace his conversations with slang than legalese to break the ice with his mostly working-class visitors.
Sure, there are ordinary government issues to address, but every-day emergencies are receiving more urgent attention, even if they stray from his job description, Ortiz Haro says.
"I feel like I have to do these things. People don't know how things work here. Too often, they are victims of scams," he said.
His doggedness and commitment have made his office on Broadway a magnet for immigrants, many undocumented, who fear American authorities, distrust local police, don't understand where to turn or feel embarrassed to seek help because they speak limited English. In a city where three-quarters of residents are Spanish-speaking, it's a busy place.
Some visitors have come from Los Angeles because they say the larger city's busy consulate has not been able to help them.
His colleagues in the Mexican foreign service have noticed. Ortiz Haro "has made us question our role," said Fernando Gamboa, the Mexican consul in Oxnard. "He's a breath of fresh air. There are manuals that tell us how to deal with the public
