AP Exclusive: Texas birth certificate rules often unenforced.

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) — Texas has for seven years said it won't accept Mexican identification cards when issuing birth certificates for children of people in the United States illegally. But it doesn't appear to have stepped up enforcement until recently, amid mounting political pressure to get tougher on immigration, records obtained by The Associated Press show.

That could validate complaints from immigrant parents suing in federal court, claiming the state is denying "birthright" U.S. citizenship for their Texas-born children guaranteed under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The AP used open records requests to get annual "self-assessment" surveys completed by local registrars. They show that officials in at least five cities and counties along the U.S.-Mexico border told the Texas Department of State Health Services during the past three years that they were allowing parents to get copies of birth certificates using a Mexican identification known as the matricula consular.

"Most of applicants are here illegally as they claim, and are therefore unable to obtain a valid form of identification from the United States," Janie Madero, then-registrar in McAllen, wrote in a 2013 survey response.

"Therefore our office accepts the matricula consular so they can obtain the birth certificate for their children who were born here."



Full story at Yahoo News.
By WILL WEISSERT and SETH ROBBINS.