By HEATHER APPEL
HERALD NEWS

PATERSON -- The last time Virgilia Parias got her passport renewed, she had to leave her Paterson home at 2 a.m. and take the bus into Manhattan, where she stood in line at the Mexican consulate with hundreds of other Mexican nationals waiting for an appointment.

This past weekend, however, the consulate came to her. Parias was one of roughly 500 people who visited the mobile consulate, or "consulate on wheels," when it came to Paterson. The consulate operated from Wednesday through Sunday out of the office of the community organization ACORN at 175 Market St. The only services offered were applications for passports and the consular identification card, called a "matricula."

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