When Congressman Dana Rohrabacher learned the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles was setting up a one day satellite office in Avalon, he planned a helicopter trip to the island and his office fired off a threatening letter and phone calls to the private facility hosting the event. His letter so intimidated the Santa Catalina Island Company, they cancelled the event. But, the Consulate believes the event was completely legal and routine—they moved it to St. Catherine’s Catholic Church in Avalon.

Rohrabacher said “The Mexican government is abusing their agreement with our State Dept., that allows them to provide appropriate off-site consular services, i.e., replacing expired passports by providing documents to illegal aliens. Basically, a foreign government inserted itself into my congressional district to provide passports and matricula cards to individuals illegally present in the US and residing on Catalina Island. The Mexican government's action is a declaration that Catalina is their turf. And I’m here to let Mexican government know that this is not acceptable.”

But, according to the press secratary for the consulate, the operation is routine and something they do about every other week in various locations throughout Los Angeles county.

“The Consular General of Mexico in Los Angeles, who was there, is accredited and recognized by the government of the United States of America in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and the Bilateral Convention between Mexico and the United States and therefore is authorized to perform consular duties throughout Los Angeles County,” said Mireya Magana, Press Secretary of the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles.

Yesterday, Avalon Mayor Robert Kennedy told www.OC180NEWS.com “last night, prior to their arrival, we were contacted by Congressman Rohrabacher’s office that their {The Mexican Consulate} intentions were in his opinion not as described and they were doing so without permission from the State Department and contrary to their duties and role as a consulate office.”

Magana told us “two of the main services that are the most required by our nationals are the issuance of matricula consular ID cards and passports. Also there was information about consular assistance. All the Mexican nationals that live in this county and that want to be registered with the consulate, they come and register that they are here and as proof of that registration, we issue these matricula consular ID cards. It is a very old practice that serves the consulate to know where their population is. If there is any need to contact them because of an alert, or an accident, or and emergency, we know where they are and we can locate them.”

Mayor Kennedy confirmed to www.OC180NEWS.com that the city takes a “live and let live” approach and sees the ID cards as providing a convenience to members of the community because it allows them to establish bank accounts. With regard to the temporary consulate satellite office, Kennedy said “We welcome them. Upon their request we agreed to provide them with open arms as a government entity trying to conduct business to help citizens of our community.”

He said Avalon is not a sanctuary city nor is it a hub of any illegal activity. “Our Sheriff’s Department is unaware of any smuggling ring using our island, be they human or drugs.”

In addition, Kennedy does not have any particular concern about illegal aliens in Avalon. “We inquired within our own sheriff’s department and all of the law enforcement efforts they have made here in the last two years. They’ve had one incident that resulted in the arrest of an illegal alien and they were an alien of another country, not Mexico.”

Kennedy continued “we have a very large Hispanic population here on the island and for the most part, they’re all hard working, and what I think we observe, American citizens. We are working hard to reach out to the Hispanic community and have them work along side us in our efforts to improve Avalon.”

Later yesterday, after the morning’s events on the island, Rohrabacher’s office confirmed the consulate was permitted to conduct the temporary operations as long as it is less than three days.

We asked Mayor Kennedy for his bottom-line reaction to yesterday’s events. He said “I think it’s unfortunate. If the Mexican Consulate was truly acting outside their scope, they obviously need to be sanctioned for doing so. If they were in fact providing a service to citizens of the United States, and they are within their right in doing so, then they’re probably owed an apology. If it’s determined that there are illegal aliens in our community, then it’s up to the federal government to do something about it. That’s not only my position, but the position of our city, and our council, and the business community here in Avalon.”