TREASURE VALLEY — Boise will be home to a new Mexican Consulate soon, local organizers who have been working to bring the office to Idaho said Friday.

The proposed office, which would offer a variety of services to Mexican-born residents, such as passport processing, has drawn criticism from Idaho Republican Congressman Bill Sali.

A group of Southwest Idaho residents who represent Idaho at the Salt Lake City Mexican Consulate gathered about 10,000 signatures on a petition to have the office opened in Boise. One organizer said the consulate has already rented office space near downtown Boise.

“It’s going to help tremendously for the Mexican people who live here to get their documents when they need it,” Lucio Prado of Boise said. “I know it’s been approved. It’s just a matter of when.”

The Mexican Consulate in Salt Lake City and the Mexican Embassy in Washington, D.C., could not be reached Friday to confirm the consulate opening in Boise.

But Sali spokesman Wayne Hoffman said the U.S. State Department confirmed that an application for the consulate has been made. Hoffman said Mexican consulates offer identification cards to illegal immigrants that help them conduct business in the United States.

There are more than 40 Mexican consulates in the country. Along with other services, they help Mexican immigrants retrieve vital documents such as birth and marriage certificates from their native country.

The Boise Consulate will enable Idaho Mexican immigrants to get services without having to travel to Salt Lake City. But Hoffman said Sali’s office has received calls from constituents complaining about the new office. He said many of the Mexican consulates are established just to provide identification cards, or matricula consular, to illegal immigrants.

“The congressman believes there should not be any accommodation for people who come to the U.S. in flagrant violation of our laws,” Hoffman said, “and the fact that they’re looking to open up an office in Boise is just further evidence just how broken the immigration system is.”

Hoffman predicted establishing the Idaho consulate office would upset area residents. “The people, I think, are going to be absolutely livid to find out we’re going to make it easier for illegal aliens to live in Idaho.”

But the spokesman said Sali isn’t against Mexican consulates offering legitimate services to legal Mexican immigrants.

A spokeswoman for Idaho’s other congressman, U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson, also a Republican, said Simpson had not heard from U.S. or Mexican officials about the consulate. But she said Simpson would have some concerns about the office opening in Idaho.

“His first reaction is, ‘Why do we need one?’” Nikki Watts said.

The Mexican government will fund the consulate.

Signatures for the petition to open the office were gathered in the Treasure Valley and around the state, according to Juanita Gonzalez of Boise, who also helped advocate for the consulate.

“Right now what I see the most need (for) is the passports because most people don’t want to go” to Salt Lake City, Gonzalez said.