Comic Book Culture, No Laughing Matter
Comic Defined: “Of, like or having to do with comedy; amusing or intended to be amusing; humorous; funny.”
– Webster’s New World College Dictionary, Fourth Edition
In December 2004 Mexico’s Foreign Ministry officially released a comic book entitled Guide for the Mexican Migrant. It includes (a) safe ways to cross Mexico’s northern border illegally, (b) a primer of illegal aliens’ rights in the U.S. and (c) advice on living illegally under the radar in the U.S. In 2005 an official of Mexico’s Foreign Ministry said some 1.5 million copies had already been distributed to several of Mexico’s central states that have high migration rates.
On December 1, 2005, http://www.dallas.org published an English translation of the 32-page comic book the Mexican government produced in Spanish in 1994. INFOMUNDO.US did the English translation used on the website, but the original Spanish version is online, as well.
By no means is the Guide an ordinary comic book nor is it intended for the entertainment of fun-loving children. Its targeted audience is adult and its content is no laughing matter. As a detailed how-to manual for illegal aliens, it includes a list of 22 Mexican Consulate locations and phone numbers in the U.S. and contact numbers for 23 U.S. major cities, such as Atlanta.
Mexican Consulates in the U.S. provide a matricula consular(1) ID card as documentation for applicants. Among other things, that card can be used to board a plane in the U.S. By January 2005, according to the Mexico City newspaper El Universal, 4.5 million Mexicans had matricula consular IDs that were accepted in 386 cities, 164 counties and 338 financial institutions in the U.S. and Mexico’s stated goal was to have issued 6 million by that year’s end. In 2005, ten states in the U.S. accepted the matricula consular as valid ID for issuing an American driver’s license to replace the matricula as ID. Matriculas are so easy to get, it’s not uncommon for American police to see individuals that have several of them in different names
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