Editorial: Mexican Consul In Chicago Verses Mexican Community Organizations

Editorial:

Community organizations, public elected officials and residents should dictate what is best for their own community and not the Mexican Consul in Chicago.

By H. Nelson Goodson
August 15, 2010

Chicago, IL - The current controversy over the exclusion of the Mexican Civic Society from the official Mexican Independence "El Grito" celebration by Mexican Consul Manuel Rodríguez Arriaga has sparked debate over the Consuls role in the Chicago Mexican community.
One thing for sure, the Consul represents the Mexican government and the legal document services it provides for its citizens in Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana, which are the three states assigned to the Consulate. As a Consul, Arriaga was appointed to reside and represent Mexico's commercial interests and give assistance to Mexico's citizens in Chicago. Both Arriaga and his staff are public servants, which are paid through taxes and other revenues generated by Mexican citizens in the U.S. and Mexico.
Arriaga seems to be mispresenting himself and is trying to create an image that indeed he is the leader of the Mexican community in the three state region. Arriaga is not a community leader, but a public servant appointed to serve the Mexican citizens seeking services from the Consulate.
The Mexican community in Chicago is well represented by its own elected public officials, numerous non-profit oranizations, including federations and other community groups and activists and ect. The debate over the Mexican Independence Bicentennial celebration and exclusion of the Mexican Civic Society by Consul Arriaga is setting precedence for community groups, residents and activists to challenge the Consuls role in the Mexican community.
Community organizations have had their own internal difficulties, as many groups have experienced their own setbacks and have succeeded in overcoming them. The differences have made the groups stronger and have learned to work with each other.
The Mexican community in Chicago and its elected public officials, and community based organizations should dictate what's best for them and their community.
Everyone should make sure that all are given the opportunity to be involved and participate within the community and not let individuals or entities to exclude or discriminate certain individuals and organizations as Consul Arriaga has done for the Mexican Independence Bicentennial Celebration in 2010.

Related article:

Breaking News: Second Protest At Mexican Consul In Chicago Over Bicentennial "El Grito" Ouster Of Mexican Civic Society http://bit.ly/9ESaRF

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Mexican Consul In Chicago Violated Law, Major Latino Community Protest Set For Friday

Consul didn't meet with protesters on August 3, as required by Mexican law, according to protest organizers

By H. Nelson Goodson
August 10, 2010

Chicago, IL - On Friday, a group of Hispanic community protesters will again march and protest in front of the Mexican Consulate in Chicago, according to a press release by Yvette Anna Soto one of the key organizers. Soto says, the protest will begin a 10:30 a.m. on Friday at the Mexican Consulate, 204 S. Ashland Ave. in Chicago. Organizers will continue to protest until the Mexican Civic Society (MCS) is allowed to participate as Co-presenters of El Grito as Consul Manuel Rodríguez Arriaga had promised before last June.
The protest organizers alleged that Consul Arriaga failed to meet with them or even come out of the Consulate on August 3 and ask protesters why they were there protesting as required by Mexican law. Arriaga did sent out a representative, but the Consul is required to do it himself.
Instead Arriaga called Chicago police to remove the protesters, but police were unable too, as they were exercising their rights and in a peaceful manner.
For the last three years the Mexican Consul had been reaching out to non-profits, museums, cultural arts institutes, universities and other entities, but failed to include a large portion of the Mexican community including MCS. MCS organizers say that they were part of the Bicenntennial Mexico's Independence celebration and Arriaga had included them, until early 2009 when they discovered Arriaga had excluded them from participating.
This year they were apparently left out of the Comite Fiesta Patrias (CFP - Holiday Festive Committee) planning and steering committee for the Bicentennial celebration. The CFP committee was created in 2004 by the Mexican Consulate and today is controlled by Consul Arriaga.
In June, the MCS held a press conference to announced their decision to cancel the Mexican Independence Day parade in September.
Last week, Evelia Rodríguez, Media and Public Relations of the Mexican Civic Society says, the MCS annual cost to hold both the parade and El Grito is about $138,000. The elaborate and elegant Azteca banquet to select the MCS queen was also canceled.
Since, Consul Arriaga has taken away El Grito from us and decided to exclude us from the bicentennial celebration, we can't offer sponsorship for both the annual parade and El Grito to corporations and local businesses, according to Rodríguez.
Scholarships to help students finance part of their college costs provided from the MCS fundraising events will be effected as well.
The parade is usually done on a Saturday, a week before September 16, and El Grito is done after September 15 at midnight on September 16.
In 2008, 21 community organizations representing the Mexican community sent a letter to President Felipe Calderón complaining about Consul Arriaga, who took office in April 2007.
The complaint alleged Arriaga was arrogant, disputes, disrespected people, and ignored the needs of the Mexican community in Chicago. Arriaga lacked to understand his responsibilities that come with the job. They even wrote Calderón that Arriaga verbally attacks and offends leaders of the Mexican community based organizations looking to divide the community, reported El Diario Hoy from the Chicago Tribune.
Numerous members of the Institute for Mexicans Abroad (IME) even supported the allegations made by the 21 community organizations. IME members alleged Arriaga was not fullfilling his duties by working with the community and had neglected to attend community events in Wisconsin when invited.
Arriaga supposedly represents the Mexican government in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. Arriaga failed to comment or respond to the allegations made by the organizations in 2008.
Arriaga or President Calderón and the Mexican government has yet to comment concerning the current bicentennial community celebration crisis that Arriaga is accused of dividing the Mexican community he was hired to serve as a whole.
The Mexican Consulate in Chicago has had a history of controversy under the direction of Consul Arriaga, who won't comment on current allegations raised by the Mexican community from Illinois and Wisconsin.

In brief:

In Wisconsin, complaints have been raised by Mexican citizens that members of the Mexican Consul in Chicago who visit cities in the state apparently express the same arrogant and disrespectful attitude as Consul Arriaga towards Mexican citizens seeking the Matricula and other services. The Consul and his staff are public servants hired or appointed to provide government services to its Mexican citizens, who in return pay for those services.
In both Wisconsin and Chicago, the Mexican Consulate failed for months to notify Mexican citizens residing in the tri-state area that a business operating out of Chicago "Legalización de Autos El Mexicano" was selling false legalization documents ranging in prices between $3,000 to $7,000, which included registration of vehicle and Mexican license plates to import vehicles into Mexico. Once people reached the border or made it into Mexico, Mexican authorities discovered the documents were false and detained the document holders and confiscated vehicles.
In May, the Consulate finally issued a press release warning people these types of businesses operating in the U.S. were illegal. The Consulate indicated they had been working along with the Illinois Attorney General's Office investigation, but despite knowning since December of 2009 of the fraud, Consul Arriaga and his staff allowed Mexican citizens to continue to purchase false documents.
In April, the Illinois Attorney General Office filed a lawsuit to keep Legalización de Auto El Mexicano from operating for scamming at least 50 people of more then $79,000, not counting Waukegan and the Wisconsin operation, but by then the business had closed at 3121 W. 26th St. in Chicago, 913 Grand Ave. in Waukegan and 1239 S. Cesar E. Chavez Drive in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Legalización de Autos business chain ended up closing due to exposure of its alleged illegal activities by Hispanic News Network U.S.A., who in December 2009 first broke the story and kept thousands of Mexican citizens from being scammed. 
In 2008, Global Search de México, S.A. de C.V. which operated Licencias Mexicanas (Mexican Licenses) in California was in Wisconsin and Chicago selling these type of illegal licenses. The fraudulant licenses were sold from the states of Veracruz, Aguascalientes, Hildago and Oaxaca for a price between $160.00 and $180.00.
Once again, the Mexican Consulate in Chicago failed to notify its Mexican citizens of the scam, eventhough they had received numerous complaints from Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana. Consul Arriaga and his staff were forced to finally release a statement warning people of the scam. But by then, Licencias Mexicanas had scammed people in the U.S. for more than $6 million dollars and no one was ever prosecuted or convicted in the U.S. or in Mexico.
Licencias Mexicanas Internet information on their prior web page stated a combine of more than 40,000 licenses from the previously mentioned Mexican states have been sold in the United States of America averaging a gross total of more than 6 million dollars in taxable earnings so far, since it was established.
The Mexican licenses had been sold in the following states Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, New Mexico Nevada, New Jersey, and Texas.

Related article:

Mexican Consul Calls Chicago Police To Disperse Latinos Protesting Arriaga's Decision To Oust Mexican Civic Society http://bit.ly/9FAPy9

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Mexican Consul Calls Chicago Police To Disperse Latinos Protesting Arriaga's Decision To Oust Mexican Civic Society From Official Bicentennial Celebration

Manuel Rodríguez Arriaga
Mexican Consul General in Chicago

Protest photos courtesy of Yvette Anna Soto

If the situation worsens and Arriaga doesn't comply with President Calderon's call to unite the community during the Bicentennial celebration, he won't be the Consul in Chicago for long, according to SRE sources in Mexico.

By H. Nelson Goodson
August 4, 2010

Chicago, Illinois - On Tuesday, more than 50 Latino community members and representatives of various community based organizations converged outside the Mexican Consulate in Chicago to protest. They are protesting Consul General Manuel Rodríguez Arriaga decision to keep several Hispanic groups and the Mexican Civic Society (MCS) from officially participating in the upcoming Bicentennial celebration of Mexico's 200 years of Independence.
The Mexican Civic Society for the last 40 years has officially sponosred the Mexican Independence Parade and festivities del "Grito." The non-profit organization is composed of hundreds of community volunteers of Mexican descent. The organization has provided cultural arts, events and activities to a large majority of Mexican-Americans, Mexican citizens and Chicago residents throughout the area.
Recently, Mexican President Felipe Calderon sent out a message calling for everyone to come together and help celebrate Mexico's Independence Bicentennial and the Centennial of the Revolution. Even, Chicago's Mexican Consul has posted in its website: http://www.consulmexchicago.com/. It seems Consul Arriaga has not read the message himself, because his personal decision to keep the Mexican Civic Society of Illinois from officially participating is contrary to President Calderon's call for all Mexicans to come together and celebrate the Bicentennial. (link http://bit.ly/dA1zFj ) 
Arriaga remained defiant and has not commented on the current cultural and bicentennial celebration crisis the Mexican Consulate in Chicago is facing. If the situation worsens and Arriaga doesn't comply with President Calderon's call to unite the community during the Bicentennial celebration he won't be the Consul in Chicago for long, according to SRE sources in Mexico.
Consul Arriaga ordered Consulate officials to call Chicago police to disperse the gathering of protesters outside the Consulate. Police arrived, but were unable to remove the protesters as they were exercising their rights to protest.
For the last three years the Mexican Consul had been reaching out to non-profits, museums, cultural arts institutes, universities and other entities, but failed to include a large portion of the Mexican community including MCS. MCS organizers say that they were part of the bicenntennial celebration and Arriaga had included them, until early 2009 when they discovered Arriaga had excluded them from participating.
This year they were apparently left out of the planning and steering committee for the Bicentennial celebration. In June, the MCS held a press conference to announced their decision to cancel the Mexican Independence Day parade in September.
On Wednesday, Evelia Rodríguez, Media and Public Relations of the Mexican Civic Society says, the MCS annual cost to hold both the parade and El Grito is about $138,000. Since, Consul Arriaga has taken away El Grito from us and decided to exclude us from the bicentennial celebration, we can't offer sponsorship for both the annual parade and El Grito to corporations and local businesses.
We decided to cancel the parade and haven't collected any sponsorship, especially if we can't offically offer both to sponsors.
The parade is usually done on a Saturday, a week before September 16, and El Grito is done after September 15 at midnight on September 16.
In 2008, 21 community organizations representing the Mexican community sent a letter to President Felipe Calderón complaining about Consul Arriaga, who took office in April 2007.
The complaint alleged Arriaga was arrogant, disputes, disrespected people, and ignored the needs of the Mexican community in Chicago. Arriaga lacked to understand his responsibilities that come with the job.
They even wrote Calderón that Arriaga verbally attacks and offends leaders of the Mexican community based organizations looking to divide the community, reported El Diario Hoy from the Chicago Tribune.
Numerous members of the Institute for Mexicans Abroad (IME) even supported the allegations made by the 21 community organizations. IME members alleged Arriaga was not fullfilling his duties by working with the community and had neglected to attend community events in Wisconsin when invited.
Arriaga supposedly represents the Mexican government in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. Arriaga failed to comment or respond to the allegations made by the organizations in 2008.
In brief: In 2004, the Mexican Consulate created the Fiesta Patrias Mexicanas (FPM) committee after MCS in 2003 removed their president for not providing financial records to the organization. MCS ended up in a court battle over the issue and a judge issued an order suspending all MCS activities.
Then in 2004, FPM organized El Grito at the Mexican Consulate parking lot and in 2005 and 2006 they were able to acquire Pritzker Pavillion at Millenium Park in downtown Chicago.
In 2007, MCS once again began to operate efficiently and reclaimed El Grito event as it had presented for more than 30 years to the Chicago community, but weren't able to come into an agreement with FPM to join efforts in organizing El Grito. By than, both groups decided to do their own event, according to Terra.com report.
Mexican Consulate sources are claiming that MCS were unable to hold the ceremonies of El Grito in 2006, 2007 and 2009, which the FPM took over the ceremonies.
This year, MCS says Arriaga led them to believe they would be included in the Bicentennial Celebration through several meetings, but later recanted and excluded them from officially participating in the event. The FPM committee disagreed with Arriaga's decision, but they had no alternative since the Consulate controls the activities of the committee and Consul Arriaga has the final say in the decision making. MCS was reluctantly excluded from the Bicentennial Celebration, according to FPM sources.
Another protest in front of the Mexican Consulate in Chicago, 204 S. Ashland Ave. is being planned for next week. MCS and community organizers say, they plan to make it larger and expect the particpation of folkloric dances and more.

Related article: Protest At Mexican Consulate In Chicago Ignited By Mexican Civic Society's Ouster From Bicentennial Grito Event http://bit.ly/9JCX0B

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Protest At Mexican Consulate In Chicago Ignited By Mexican Civic Society's Ouster From Bicentennial Grito Event

Manuel Rodríguez Arriaga
Mexican Consul General in Chicago

Mexican Civic Society cancels annual downtown independence parade and related festivities in protest

By H. Nelson Goodson
August 2, 2010

Chicago, Illinois - On Tuesday, a group of Mexican-Americans are expected to march and protest in front of the Mexican Consulate in Chicago. The group is protesting the decision of Consul General Manuel Rodríguez Arriaga to keep the Mexican Civic Society (MCS) from participating in this year's only Bicentennial Celebration of Mexico's Independence and the Centennial of the Mexican Revolution, according to a press release by Yvette Anna Soto from Chicago. Soto is part of several Chicago residents who are spear heading the protest along with Maria Alva, both community activists.
Alva says, the group is motivated by making sure the Hispanic, especially the Mexican and Mexican-American communities are fairly treated and represented in the Bicentennial celebrations. Soto is expecting over 50 people at the protest. They received over 1,000 signatures of support and the list is growing, according to Alva. 
On late Monday, Evelia Rodriguez, Media and Public Relations representative for the Mexican Civic Society of Illinois (Sociedad Civica Mexicana) confirmed that Board of Directors and members of the MCS will also be participating at the protest.
Both Soto and Alva are self financing and coordinating Tuesday's protest and don't belong to MCS, but do support the afluent organization, which has provided generations of the Chicago Mexican community with culture, festivals, famous Mexican midwest parade and the MCS Queen Pageant in the last 40 years.
Apparently, Consul Arriaga was granted the permit for El Grito by the City of Chicago to hold the celebration. The Mexican government provided the Mexican Consulates that serve large Mexican populations with funds to help celebrate the Bicentennial event.
In this case, Consul Arriaga went one step further, he took control of the event and hired a company to sell "El Grito" event to major corporations like Citi-Bank, McDonald's and others in the Chicago area. It seems, Arriaga is counting on profiting from El Grito some will argue, and leaving one of the foremost respected organizations like La Sociedad Civica Mexicana from participating. A political move, if any or just bad judgement that will most likely cost the Mexican Consulate in Chicago to be blamed for creating division among the very community it should serve.
Arriaga duties are to serve the Mexican community with legalize documents and services for Mexican citizens and to represent the interests of the Mexican government. But to engage in what is being alleged by Chicago organizations, groups, and the community as a profit venture for his own personal gain has raised legal questions. Such questions as transparency, accountability of funds and who actually profits after all? Questions that will linger on long after Arriaga gets reassigned.
The MCS has tried numerous times to meet with Arriaga, but has ignored meeting with them. Maybe, it's time for Mexican President Felipe Calderón to step in and help the Chicago Mexican community to come together and celebrate the Bicentennial, since Mexican citizens alone in the Chicago area have sent billions of U.S. dollars into Mexico's economy for decades.
Instead, Consul Arriaga has accomplished one thing notable in Chicago's community and that is to divide and avoid working with reputable community organizations like the Mexican Civic Society and others, according to Chicago residents in the Mexican community.
This year they were apparently left out of the planning and steering committee for the Bicentennial celebration. In June, the MCS held a press conference to announced their decision to cancel the Mexican Independence Day parade in September.
Rodríguez says, the MCS annual cost to hold both the parade and El Grito is about $138,000. Since, Consul Arriaga has taken away El Grito from us and decided to exclude us from the bicentennial celebration, we can't offer sponsorship for both the annual parade and El Grito to corporations and local businesses.
We decided to cancel the parade and haven't collected any sponsorship, especially if we can't offically offer both to sponsors.
The parade is usually done on a Saturday, a week before September 16, and El Grito is done after September 15 at midnight on September 16.
Board members of the MCS have said, they will try and meet with Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley to discuss the critical matter effecting the Hispanic community at large.
In May, MCS held their weekend Cinco de Mayo celebration at Chicago's Navy Pier and then began to seek sponsorships for both the annual parade and El Grito. Later, MCS discovered Arraiga wouldn't offically recognize and include them in the upcoming bicentennial celebration.
So far, Arriaga or the Consulate in Chicago haven't released or posted in their website any type of press release with information concerning the Consul General's decision to exclude or continue their partnership with the Mexican Civic Society. Attempts to reach Consul Arriaga were unsuccessful.
In prior years the MCS planned and organized the annual 16 de septiembre celebration and had invited the Mexican General Consul as protocol for the honors of El Grito.
It seems that MCS and the Consul General have a difference of opinion and conflicting desire venue of entertainment. MCS would like to have mariachis, folkloric dancers and regional norteño Mexican bands and duranguense music popular with Chicago's community. But, Arriaga is advocating for a symphony orchestra and opera singers popular with the cultural arts community, which in any case, both entertainment venues allowed could very well serve and provide an awesome event.
Soto says, "many in the community are upset with Consul Arriaga for excluding MCS from the Bicentennial celebration of "El Grito de Independencia...the community is taking matters into their own hands to let their displeasure known to Arriaga by protesting...and will continue to protest until Consul Arriaga does what is correct and include the MCS as Co-presenters as he previously stated in early 2009," Soto wrote.
The group will begin protesting at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, August 3rd at the Mexican Consulate in Chicago, 204 S. Ashland Ave. The protest is in support of the MCS and to show that the Mexican community in Chicago is united and are calling for Consul General Arriaga to leave politics and profits aside and allow MCS to participate, instead of dividing the community it serves.
In early March, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley during a reception at the Chicago Cultural Center, proclaimed and helped kick off the 2010 Year of Mexico in Chicago celebrations.
“In Chicago, we celebrate the diversity of our neighborhoods and respect the culture and rich traditions of all of our residents,” said Mayor Daley. “The success of Mexicans in Chicago is the result of years of hard work, strong family values and dedication to community.”
At the kick off, the Mexican Consulate announced the Chicago Symphony, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Chicago Sinfonietta were part of upcoming bicentennial celebration and 70 other culural events were planned. The Consulate had been working for the last three years to get museums, nonprofits, universities and other cultural institutions from Chicago, Indiana and Wisconsin to help plan for a broad program of cultural activies during the celebration. It reported about 50 participants had already planned activities. But the Consulate left the Sociedad Civica Mexicana (MCS) out of the actual planning committee.
In 2010, Mexico and predominately Mexican-American communities with roots in Mexico will commemorate the bicentennial (200 years) of its Mexico's Independence and centennial (100 years) of the Revolution. On September 16, 1810 is the day of the " Grito de Dolores" or Miguel Hidalgo's call to take up arms against the Spanish colonial government. The start of the Mexican Revolution is celebrated November 20, 1910, when Francisco "Pancho" Villa and Pascual Orozco led the first insurrectionist attack.

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Chicago Police Investigate Legalización Mexicano de Autos, Business Chain In Legalizing Vehicles For Export To Mexico

Chicago Police cited an employee of Legalización Mexicano de Autos for not producing a commercial license to operate business, and the owner believed to be in Mexico

By H. Nelson Goodson
December 18, 2009

Milwaukee - A multi-business in Illinois and Wisconsin operating a vehicle legalization known in the South side of Milwaukee as Legalización Mexicano de Autos (Auto Imports To Mexico Legalized) 1239 S. Cesar E. Chavez Dr. is no longer accepting requests for auto legalized documents to temporarily travel or import vehicles to Mexico. Currently, three businesses are located in Chicago, one in Waukegan, and another in Milwaukee, which are affiliated to the parent company Mex-Tel Inc.
On Wednesday, Chicago local investigators cited an employee of Legalización Mexicano a total of $3,000 for not providing a business license to operate at 3121 W. 26th St., and was ordered to appear in court at a later date. The owner Agustin Acosta-Valdez, a Chicago resident could not be located by police, and is believed to be in Mexico, according to sources in Chicago.
By Wednesday afternoon, the Legalización Mexicano de Autos in Milwaukee, and Waukegan, IL located at 913 Grand Ave. began to limit their operation to just delivering vehicle legalized documents to customers. In Chicago, the business located at 3121 W. 26th St., 2nd Floor was closed as a result of an investigation by Chicago police. The two other businesses in Chicago continued to operate, however an undated postcard flyer indicated Acosta-Valdez was operating 10 business locations.
The Acosta-Valdez company specializes in temporary legalized travel vehicle permits into Mexico from nine months to a year and with option to renew on a yearly basis, until year to permanently import vehicle arrives. Legalización Mexicano can provide legalization permits to vehicles already in Mexico and could use up to two different names if desired by the clients. The Legalización Mexicano website assures their practices in issuing permits is legal and has legalized at least 10,000 vehicles.
Customer complaints to Legalización Mexicano employees date back at least five months. The permit holders alleged the import documents provided to them by Legalización Mexicano were fraudulent.
Numerous inquiries to Mexican border authorities alerted local and federal authorities concerning Mexican nationals traveling to Mexico with bogus documents and permits legalizing their vehicles for export to Mexico.
Under U.S. and Mexico agreement, vehicles dating 10 years old from the U.S. would only be allowed to be registered permanently in Mexico. Before October 31, only 1999 year model of vehicles could be legalized to be imported to Mexico, and after that date only 2000 year model autos could be legalized for import into Mexico, according to Mexican government officials.
Once across the border, Legalización Mexicano clients who paid between $800 to $1,500 or more for the permits, and plates from the businesses in Chicago, Waukegan, and Milwaukee discovered they were bogus. A Chicago employee who didn't want to be identified said that it's unfortunate and felt sorry that there was no recourse to compensate clients. Some family members of the victims alleged Mexican authorities confiscated their vehicles and arrested people trying to cross autos when the vehicles VIN numbers didn't match the VIN in the documents. The documents weren't even legally registered with the Mexican government.
In most of these cases, family members traveling with what they thought were legal documents were left out in the cold. Those arrested face hefty fines and jail time in Mexico.
The alleged fraud scheme by Legalización Mexicano, according to customers whose vehicles were confiscated in Mexico triggered a five month investigation into the practices conducted by the Midwest Acosta-Valdez businesses in Waukegan, Chicago and Milwaukee.

Advertising for Legalización Mexicano de Autos has promoted that they can legalize any kind of vehicle between year models 1993 to 2009 and no documents required and everyone qualifies. Most clients using Legalización Mexicano de Autos are believed to be undocumented immigrants, which makes them easy targets for alleged scams or document fraud. Undocumented immigrants usually choose not to report these type of scams to authorities.
A majority of clients using Legalización Mexicano have a success rate to import their vehicles into Mexico, but some clients have had their vehicles confiscated in Mexico for document fraud. Legalización Mexicano is connected to Mexican officials from the following three states, Mexico, Morelos, and Michoacan who send legalized documents, and license plates from Mexico to Acosta-Valdez' businesses.
The investigative report revealed, when a person was returning to Mexico and is originally from the State of Guanajuato (state used as an example) he/she would get legalized documents and registered Mexican license plates indicating the vehicle was of Mexican origin from either of the previously three mentioned states. Once in the interior of Mexico, they could transfer the registration to their home State of Guanajuato.  
When contacted on Thursday, the business phone in Waukegan was temporarily disconnected, in Chicago the voice massage box was full in one line and the other phone line was temporarily disconnected, and in Milwaukee a voice message was still recommending callers to stop by, but the chain business operation and its future seem uncertain on Wednesday. 

Chicago's Legalizaciones Mexicano at 3121 W. 26 St. closed signed on door said "Oficinas cerradas, no hay información a donde se movieron" Offices closed, no information where they moved. Offices were located in La Villita business sector.

As of Friday, the Legalización Mexicano de Autos websites www.mex-tel.com/home, 'Mexicano Si Se Puede' and www.legalizacionesmexicano.com, 'Mexicano Si Se Puede' were still online and says it has been in business for ten years.
For years, legalization companies have setup business in predominately Latino communities in the U.S. offering and selling documents to temporarily travel or permanently import vehicles into Mexico. Some local Latino businesses do offer the service, it is convenient for people to buy the documents locally instead of going to the Chicago Mexican Consulate and are legitimate. But to safe guard from bogus vehicle legalization documents, people should travel to the Chicago Mexican Consulate to get legalized vehicle temporary travel permits or import documents processed to avoid any problems while crossing the border. People can use bordertown vehicle legalization businesses and if any problems arise they can resolve most problems in the border compared to a business located in the midwest.
On Friday, attempts to contact Acosta-Valdez were unsuccessful, his personal cell phone voice mail box was full. The answering massage said, Legalización Mexicano de Autos was a professional business and specialized in legalization of vehicles from 1993 to 2009 to be imported into Mexico. Acosta-Valdez has not been seen for about one month in his businesses.
Previously, Acosta-Valdez had launched an ad blitz campaign targeting customers by advertising in local Spanish newspapers, radio, and magazines that Legalización Mexicano was buying autos, and heavy construction equipment with or without titles. People could buy vehicles in Milwaukee and they would be delivered in Mexico, no documents required, and everyone qualified, according to the ads.
The U.S. Attorney's office in Chicago, IL was contacted on Friday for information concerning Acosta-Valdez and his business practices. The federal public information officer with the U.S. Attorney's office could not confirm, if Acosta-Valdez has a pending investigation or a federal indictment and charges are expected.

  
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