Mexico's ID Makes Major Gains in U.S.

The number issued statewide has jumped from just under 190,000 five years ago to nearly 360,000 last year. Nationwide, the the number has gone from 528,000 to more than 4.7 million last year, according to the Mexican government.

Other countries, primarily in Latin America, are taking note of the matricula's success. Argentina, El Salvador and Honduras either distribute comparable cards or plan to this fall. Colombia began a pilot program in late 2004.

Resembling driver's licenses, the Mexican photo identification cards are a boon to U.S. businesses. They allow companies such as Sprint, Costco and Wells Fargo to capture the buying power of an eager and growing group of consumers: illegal immigrants.

The cards can be used to establish credit, open bank accounts, buy insurance and apply for government services.

"There was a need in the Latino community," Wells Fargo spokeswoman Mary Trigg said of her company's decision in 2001 to accept the card. "And we saw a market there."

Margarita Hernandez, an illegal immigrant who lives in Orange County, said she used the ID card to open a Wells Fargo checking account and establish a line of credit that allowed her to buy a cellphone, a 1997 Dodge Caravan, a 56-inch flat-screen television, living room and dining room sets and a $1,000 gold watch.

"It's all because I have this," said Hernandez, proudly displaying a laminated card with her photo set against the colors of the Mexican flag.

To get a card, which is good for five years, an applicant must pay $27 and produce an original birth certificate, a photo ID from Mexico (such as a voter card), and provide evidence of U.S. residency (such as a water or gas bill). The card lists the bearer's U.S. address, whether the person is here legally or not.

The matricula's growing acceptance by U.S. businesses is both a measure of how entrenched illegal immigrants are becoming in American society and of how eagerly the marketplace is courting them. It also highlights the contradiction between immigration laws, which forbid the presence of undocumented workers, and immigration reality, which encourages them to spend their paychecks here.