The government of Mexico recently warned the state of Texas that it was jeopardizing its currently friendly relationships with the country by refusing to issue birth certificates to children born to undocumented immigrants in the state, even though they held consular identification cards that were issued by the Mexican Consulate.

Mexican officials pointed out that it is widely accepted for “friendly nations” to accept various forms of identification, such as foreign passports, in order to issue birth certificates to children born of immigrants in the United States. The brief filed by the Mexican government was in response to a lawsuit filed on behalf of six different children who were born in the U.S. to undocumented parents from Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala, and who were not issued a birth certificate by the state of Texas.

The Mexican government has also asked Texas to articulate which specific forms of identification it requires in order for birth certificates to be issued to the children of non-U.S. citizens.