People of Mexican descent make up over one-third of L.A. County’s population according to the U.S. Census, but for many Mexicanos getting to the Consulate General of Mexico in MacArthur Park can be a total schlep.
That is why Los Angeles City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez and Consul General of Mexico in L.A., Carlos González Gutiérrez, were thrilled to celebrate the opening of the new ‘Consulate on Wheels’ at Pacoima City Hall, located at 13520 Van Nuys Blvd, on Thursday, Aug. 15.
The Consulate on Wheels program seeks to bring the vital services of the consulate — like passports, voter ID cards and dual nationality applications — to immigrant communities around the county at rotating pop-up locations.
“We want to let people know that we are a casa de servicio, a house of service, and therefore we accommodate the needs of our people,” said Gutiérrez. “We understand that for many of them it’s very difficult to drive all the way to MacArthur Park. And having facilities like this, with free parking, air conditioning and plenty of space, makes sense to serve the Mexican immigrant population in San Fernando Valley.”
The idea to bring a mobile consulate to the Valley was spearheaded by Councilmember Rodriguez, who represents the communities of Sylmar, Mission Hills, Pacoima, Sunland-Tujunga, Shadow Hills and La Tuna Canyon. The center is open on Tuesdays through Saturdays until Aug. 31 and seeks to serve 200 appointments a day.
In addition to the Pacoima City Hall site, mobile Mexican consulates are currently operating at Oficina Jalisco in Walnut Park (2168 E Florence Ave.), and Mi Casa es Puebla near Boyle Heights (328 S Indiana St.). For details on dates and hours of operation people can visit tinyurl.com/ConsulateOnWheels.
“As a proud first generation American of Mexican descent and representative of a large immigrant community, I am proud to partner with the Mexican Consulate to make these services available for Valley residents at Pacoima City Hall,” Rodriguez said in a statement. “‘Consulado Sobre Ruedas’ connects the government directly to the people we serve.”
Consul General Gutiérrez said he was thrilled when Rodriguez’s office reached out to him about bringing services to Pacoima as the location caters to immigrant communities in the Valley as well as those living as far away as Santa Clarita
“We were very excited when Monica Rodriguez insisted on us bringing the mobile unit to Pacoima City Hall,” he said. “That is the type of partnership we would like to develop with each of her colleagues. I hope that other colleagues will find this as an opportunity to invite us to do a mobile unit in their district for two or three weeks.”
Within a day of opening all appointments for the first week were snapped up, said Gutiérrez. Centers like this are able to issue a passport or ID card within 45 to 90 minutes, he added.
Mexicans can book an appointing by calling (424) 309-0009, by messaging 213-507-2981 on WhatsApp or visiting citas.sre.gob.mx. If no appointments are available, Gutiérrez said the mobile consulate will still make time to help people in the case of an emergency.
“We understand that sometimes unfortunately someone really close dies or is hospitalized in Mexico and people need to travel immediately,” he said. “I encourage my fellow Mexican nationals not to doubt or hesitate to come to either one of mobile consulates or the Consulate General and explain the emergency.”
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