Milwaukee Mexican Consulate To Open In Wisconsin

José de Jesús Cabrera Sandoval

The Mexican government has approved a Mexican Consulate in Milwaukee. 

By H. Nelson Goodson

August 13, 2014

Milwaukee, Wisconsin - On Tuesday, José de Jesús Cabrera Sandoval, 42, an advisor for the Institute for Mexicans Abroad confirmed to Hispanic News Network U.S.A. (HNNUSA) that the Mexican government has decided to open a Milwaukee Mexican Consulate in Wisconsin. The new Mexican Consulate in Milwaukee will be independent from the Chicago Mexican Consulate on Ashland. Cabrera Sandoval says, that it will take between six to eight months to find a location in Milwaukee once a petition is signed by Eduardo Medina-Mora Icaza, Mexico's Ambassador to the U.S.; Dr. Sergio M. Alcocer Martínez de Castro, the Undersecretary of North America, Mexico's Secretariat of Foreign Relations; Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R). The U.S. State Department will get the petition and the Mexican Consulate will begin operating in Wisconsin, according to Cabrera Sandoval.

The Milwaukee Mexican Consulate (MMC) is expected to relieve the congestion that the Chicago Mexican Consulate (CMC) is experiencing per year. Mexican nationals seeking services (legal documents, passports, La Matricula ID and ect.) from the CMC have to make an appointment and might take weeks or months to be seen. The CMC is a major source for generating revenue for Mexico from services rendered to Mexican nationals in the tri-state area. After all expenses and payroll is paid out to staff, including consuls, the CMC has about $8M in profit left annually. Which, the Mexican government helps fund other less revenue generating consulates in the U.S.

Cabrera Sandoval, who was elected in September 2011 for a three year term (2012 - 2014) as an advisor for the Advisory Council (Consejo Consultivo) to the Institute for Mexicans Abroad (Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior, IME) had campaigned and vowed that he would work to open a Mexican Consulate in Wisconsin. Cabrera Sandoval has accomplished in his term what others before him had attempted to do for more than 40 years, since the Mexican community began to advocate for a consulate in Milwaukee.