Consulate of Mexico In Milwaukee Will Open Within Months

The Consulate of Mexico in Milwaukee expected to serve more than 300,000 Mexican nationals from Wisconsin, Michigan and could eventually take some of the overload of providing visas, passports and other legal documents to Mexican nationals being served at the Consulate of Mexico in Chicago and neighboring states.

By H. Nelson Goodson

Hispanic News Network U.S.A.

January 15, 2016

Milwaukee, WI - On Thursday, the Secretary of Foreign Relations from Mexico (SRE) announced that a Consulate of Mexico in Milwaukee will open within months and is expected to serve more than 300,000 Mexican nationals from Wisconsin and Michigan. The SRE Undersecretary of North America, Carlos Pérez Verdía visited Milwaukee to inspect the newly leased building, which has 8,275 square feet of office space at 1443 N. Prospect Ave. that will house the new Mexican Consulate in Milwaukee.

Undersecretary Verdía met with Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch (R), City of Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett (D) and U.S. Congressman Sean Duffy (R). Governor Scott Walker (R) also supported the opening of Mexican Consulate in Wisconsin. The Consul General of the Consulate of Mexico in Chicago, Carlos Jiménez Macías accompanied Verdía to Milwaukee as well and met with some GOP members of the Latino community to discuss the upcoming opening of the consulate on Prospect Ave.

The Consulate of Mexico in Chicago generates more than $7M a year in revenue from services rendered to Mexican nationals from Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois that include legal documents, visas, passports, Matricula Consular ID and additional services.

U.S. Senator Ron Johnson's (R) office released the following statement, For more than a year, U.S. Senator Ron Johnson and U.S. Representative Sean Duffy of Wisconsin's 7th District have worked closely to bring a consulate to Milwaukee. 

Also, Jesús Cabrera, a Wisconsin representative for the Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior (IME) for the last three years has worked with state, Mexican and U.S. diplomatic officials to open a Mexican Consulate in Milwaukee. When Cabrera ran for the elected IME position, he vowed to accomplish the goal of opening a consulate in Wisconsin, which is in the works to finally open after years of organized efforts to do so by the Mexican community since, the early 1970's.

The SRE says that the working relation with Wisconsin has generated at least $6B in U.S. dollars for Mexico and is a major exporter of products to Mexico ranking second and is considered the 21st business partner of Mexico in exports.

There are approximately 260,000 in population of Mexican origin in the state, which is 75% of the total Hispanic population in Wisconsin. The Consulate of Mexico in Milwaukee with cover 53 of 72 counties in Wisconsin and 12 of 83 counties from state of Michigan.

In another diplomatic issue, Congressman Duffy announced that he personally gave a letter from lawmakers to Undersecretary Verdía requesting for Sinaloa drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera to be extradited to the U.S. to face federal indictments in Texas and California for drug trafficking and money laundering on Thursday, while in Milwaukee.