SPRINGDALE -- Mexican citizens living in Northwest Arkansas no longer have to drive three to four hours to Little Rock to renew or obtain documentation such as a passport or a consular identification card.
The Mexican Consulate in Little Rock has established a program in which representatives come to Northwest Arkansas every fourth week of the month.
David Preciado, consul of Mexico in Little Rock, was at Centro Cristiano Hispano of Springdale on Tuesday for a ribbon cutting and kickoff of the monthly Mobile Mexican Consulate.
The consulate previously came to Springdale only two weekends a year, Preciado said, but he saw increased demand for services. Officials saw the need to implement the program allowing the consulate to come to Northwest Arkansas four days a month.
"It's a group of six people who, the first two weeks of each month, are in Oklahoma City, as there are 350,000 Mexicans across the state of Oklahoma," Preciado said. "The third week they are in Tulsa, and the fourth week they are here in Springdale."
Preciado said the technology the consulate uses allows for documents to be expedited in a matter of hours.
People began arriving at 8 a.m. Tuesday to start their paperwork.
Before the symbolic ribbon cutting at noon, the first batch of passports were ready.
Eddie Cantu, pastor at the Centro Cristiano Hispano, said Mexican Consulate representatives contacted a friend of his in Little Rock while looking for a place to host a mobile consulate in Springdale. The name of his church on 56th Street came up.
"We're thrilled to be able to have this here, and to have as many people come out as possible," he said.
After the ribbon cutting, about 100 people were in the building. Several people had already left with passports in hand.
"We've had the Salvadoran Consulate here before, so we kind of expected this," Cantu said regarding the response.
His wife, Becky, expressed excitement for the way the day had gone.
"It's a great community outreach for us because we're helping and trying to fill a need that we know is here, and it's just great," she said. "It helps people also know that there's a church here if they need one."
Erika Rogel, originally from Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico, said she liked the new process.
"It's closer to where I live, and I don't have to go far to get my consular card and my passport," she said.
The person helping her was Geovanny Villagran, newly appointed as social media coordinator for the consulate. He had arrived in Springdale on Monday evening with Preciado and had been working since early morning.
"I'm happy because service is in my blood, I've always liked to serve people and I like what we're doing to support people here in the United States," Villagran said.
NW News on 08/27/2014