500 people show up on 1st day of mobile Mexican Consulate services in Pasco

KENNEWICK — Hundreds of Mexican citizens and Mexican Americans with dual citizenship living in Washington were turned away this week at a mobile office in Pasco of the Mexican Consulate from Seattle.

Demand far exceeded the number of appointments offered daily to help with renewing existing passports, getting new passports and other document services for traveling and voting.

People from Pasco to Yakima to Moses Lake lined up at the offices provided temporarily by a local business. Others needing help came from as far away as Oregon and Idaho.

It’d been a year since consulate officials had come to the Tri-Cities.

It’s not clear what was driving this year’s local surge. Statewide, Latinos make up 13% of the population and are the state’s second largest racial group. Of Washington Latinos, 80% are of Mexican descent.

Maria Pineda’s business, MP Family Services, hosted the consulate this week.

She said many people often can’t afford the cost or time off work to travel to the consulate office in Seattle.

Appointments there are only offered on Thursdays and are notoriously difficult to get scheduled. There is also limited staff at the consulate office.

The mobile consulate in Pasco planned for 80 appointments a day for four days this week. On the first day, 500 people showed up for services. By the end of the week, 400 people had been served.

Those who were turned away planned to return another day. Appointments could be booked online.