RALEIGH - Requests for passports, birth registration and consular identifications by Mexican citizens living in North and South Carolina have skyrocketed in the past six months as families brace for the potential of a sudden departure from this country.
In 2005, the Raleigh consulate, which serves an estimated 600,000 Mexicans living in North and South Carolina, issued an average of 571 passports a month. This year, more than 3,000 are processed a month, according to Rodrigo Pintado, who heads the Mexican government's documentation division in Raleigh.
There's been a similar explosion in birth registrations, a way for Mexican parents to begin securing dual citizenship for children born in the United States. In 2005, the office handled 28 registrations a month. That was up to 300 a month this year.
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