For six months Rosalva Avalos-Cortes has resided in Napa without any form of identification. Simple tasks like opening a bank account, cashing checks or getting a book from the library eluded her, but that changed Saturday morning when she became one of the hundreds of Mexican residents who received a Matricula Consular ID, Mexican ID card, at a registration event held in Calistoga.

The event was sponsored by Calistoga's Cinco de Mayo Committee and was held at Calistoga Family Center. A long line of anxious Mexicanos stretched outside of the building and kept Mexican Consulate workers busy for most of the day.

Avalos-Cortes arrived at the registration event early in the morning and by 11:30 a.m., had received her card. A wide grin swept across her face as she held her shiny new card.

"Sometimes you need identification," she said. "Now if someone asks me for it, I'll have it."

Having a Matricula Consular ID card will make her trips from Napa to her native Jalisco, Mexico, easier, she said. The card will also give her the opportunity to cash paychecks she earns while cleaning homes alongside her sister throughout the valley.

To get the card, Avalos-Cortes had to present a birth certificate, proof of residency and an official picture identification card of Mexican or American origin. She also had to pay $27, she said.

Event organizer Susan Hoffman, of the Cinco de Mayo Committee, was instrumental in getting the Mexican Consulate, based in San Francisco, to come to Calistoga and issue over 350 cards and 50 passports.

"We really have a close relationship with the Mexican Consulate," Hoffman said. "Almost half of the general population (in Calistoga) is Mexican. It's a card that is issued to Mexican nationals living abroad."

But critics of the card say that it rewards illegal immigrants for breaking the law and gives them some of the same rights shared by American citizens. They say the card is easy to duplicate and can make it easier for criminals to slip by law enforcement.

Jaime Martin, of the Mexican Consulate, said that couldn't be further from the truth.

"(The card) ... has very high security," he said. "It has more security precautions than any driver's license in the U.S."

Martin pointed out that the Matricula Consular ID card was brought forth in response to the Sept. terrorist attacks. Before the attacks, Martin said, the Mexican Consulate issued similar cards that were easy to duplicate. The new cards look different and are harder to duplicate, Martin said.

"Critics of the Matricula Consular worry that it somehow allows people to slip under the radar. Not at all," Hoffman said. "I think it has the opposite effect."

Hoffman said the card does not allow anyone to legally drive, work or reside in America. Law enforcement in Calistoga is behind Matricula Consular ID Cards. The card helps officers verify the identity of residents and speeds up traffic stops.

In 2002, Calistoga Police Chief Mike Dick, then-mayor Mario Callegari and Hoffman traveled to the offices of the Mexican Consulate in San Francisco and got a look at how the card is issued and what safeguards are used to help prevent against counterfeiting. Hoffman said Dick and Callegari were so impressed by the presentation that they lobbied for the card in front of the Calistoga City Council and the card was approved by both the city council and Board of Supervisors in 2003.

Martin said throughout California, hundreds of police departments have accepted the Mexican ID card as a valid form of identification. He also pointed out that Mexico has a large database of people who have been issued a card and it's virtually impossible for one person to receive more than one card.

The card allows residents to move freely into Mexico. Outside of Mexico, consulate officials have traveled as far away as Hawaii to have registration fairs and hand out cards.