December 9, 2007, in San Juan Capistrano, CA. Apparently, a woman that local police told protesters had diplomatic immunity struck a member of the Minutemen group who had assembled on public school grounds to photograph, document, and protest a mobile Mexican Matricula Consular ID center there on the school’s property. The Minutemen say the female Mexican government official told them repeatedly that they could not take pictures and that they had to leave. She would not show the Minutemen her identification and told the police who arrived on the scene (she placed the call) that she did not have any with her. The police had to break the news to her that in fact, the Minutemen did have a Constitutional right to be there and take photographs.
This site explains what a Matricula Consular ID is.
This site has the complete photo essay of the incident, this one a more sloppy version (both have disappearing photos that appear in the other, usually), and here’s a video account (link here):
Some more discussion of this here and at The Capistrano Dispatch. To quote from the latter:
A Minuteman Fracas in Capistrano
Februaury 15, 2008
Members of the immigration-watchdog group the Minutemen descended on the Capistrano Unified School District headquarters Monday to protest an incident that happened on district property in December.Then, a group of Minutemen members gathered at a school district facility being used by a Latino-support group. The Minutemen were protesting a visit by representatives of the Mexican Consulate and the distribution of Matricula Consular identification cards. A dispute broke out by a member of the Latino group and a female protestor. The protester, Debbie Craig, said the Latina pushed her camera into her face, splitting her lip.
Sheriff’s deputies were called to the scene—by the Latinos—but no crime report was taken. A report was filed this month. Craig, a Mission Viejo resident, said confusion prevented her from filing the complaint earlier. Since then, photographs of the confrontation have circled the Internet. “This is outrageous,” Charles Clemmer of San Juan Capistrano said. “Why would we allow the Mexican Consulate to set up an ID center? Is this really want we want for California and San Juan Capistrano?”
Although San Juan Capistrano is best know for its historic Mission San Juan Capistrano, the Orange County city of 36,000 has struggled with immigration issues. Officially, the city is one-third Hispanic, and authorities late last year served an injunction on a Latino gang that is headquartered in one of two heavily Latino neighborhoods in the city.
Minutemen on Monday demanded a written apology from CUSD trustees, but the district in December asked the Mexican Consulate not to return to its property.
This is either biased journalism or small-local-paper-bad journalism. In a city that is one-third Hispanic and two-thirds squishy California liberal, I’m going with the former. I count four references to the “Latino-support group” and one weak “representatives of the Mexican consulate” (the photos taken by the Minutemen include one of a diplomat license plate on a vehicle at the school, strange for the official who said she didn’t drive). Foreign government involvement and the dolling out of official ID’s usually implies something a little heftier than a simple “support group,” don’tcha think? And if it can really be fairly described as a “Latino-support group,” doesn’t that make the Minutemen an “American-support group”? Probably not to this reporter, who thought they caused a “fracas” by “descending” on an innocent school district’s headquarters.
Note to him or her: I think the real “fracas” here is a non-citizen and foreign government official telling US citizens where they can and cannot stand and take pictures.
The photo essay points out that Mexicans legally in the US have US-issued green cards for identification. Legal aliens don’t need matricula consular identification cards. Presumably then, those receiving these ID’s aren’t legal, and the Minutemen point out a man who they identify as a gang member. As the last bolded portion of the Dispatch article suggests, there are a lot of gang members in San Juan Capistrano. Michelle Malkin spotlighted the story of an illegal immigrant who raped a woman and was arrested in his Capistrano home just two days after this ID party on school grounds, so the good news is, maybe the rapist had a brand new ID to show the cops when they put him in cuffs.
