Mexican Consulate in Oxnard seeing uptick in passport services
The demand for passports and paperwork has skyrocketed at the Mexican Consulate in Oxnard. It is the only Mexican Consulate between Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo and serves the tri-counties.
The communications director tells NewsChannel 3 that people are trying to make sure their Mexican passports are up to date for identification purposes. They are also trying to get dual-citizenship passports for children born in the United States.
“They are not feeling easy with all the politics that might be implemented at the federal level in the USA,” said Jonathan Elias Alvarez-Alzua, Communications Director with Consulado de Mexico in Oxnard. “We have seen some increase in demand for our services. For instance, in passports, it has grown from around 120 appointments to 150 appointments. But the biggest demand is for the dual citizenship: it has grown from 10 appointments to now we have more than 200 people calling daily asking for appointments.”
The communications director said anyone detained has the right to call an attorney and the consulate. Employees say people are panicking because of rumors and urge people to call their consulate if they have questions.
After hearing President Trump’s address, with a Mexican American University of California Santa Barbara student by his side, Congressman Salud Carbajal, (D) California, called it was “hollow.”
“Rhetoric without any detailed plans does not lend itself to the collaborative environment we need to be able to solve these types of challenges,” said Carbajal.
The consulate has a 24-hour hotline at (805)889-0241 and a toll free number CIAM (Centro de Informacion y Asistencia a Mexicanos) 1 855 4636 395.
