DENVER -- The city's plan to accept identification cards issued by the Mexican consulate has incensed Rep. Tom Tancredo, who plans to ask federal immigration officials what they plan to do about it.

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The Littleton Republican, a leader in an immigration reform movement, said the only people who would need such cards to gain access to city services are here illegally.

Remarking on newspaper photos of people lining up outside the consulate to apply for the matricula consular cards, Tancredo said the Immigration and Naturalization Service should have sent agents to the site.

"And as they (immigrants) pick up a card, (the INS should) pick them up and say ... 'Are you here legally? Then you don't need this. And if you're not, then come with me,'" he told the Rocky Mountain News.

Tancredo's comments Thursday drew more criticism from people who lambasted his opposition to allowing Mexican honor student Jesus Apodaca to attend the University of Colorado. Apodaca's parents came to Colorado illegally when he was 12.

"What kind of bizarre Tom Tancredo planet is he living on?" Denver Mayor Wellington Webb's spokesman Andrew Hudson said. "I think it's a scare tactic. I think he's trying to exploit the issue and exploit himself as a champion of this cause."

Tancredo said anybody in the United States illegally, including Apodaca and his family should be immediately deported, but said the INS is trying to avoid doing that.

"We all know they do not wish to do their job," he said. "It's a culture in the INS that I want to attack here."

The consular identification cards, which can help holders gain access to services such as bank accounts, hospital care or basic city services, do not disclose a person's immigration status.

Webb has said that Denver should officially recognize the cards as legitimate identification. The plan will be considered by the City Council. The mayor's decision makes Denver among some of the larger of more than 40 U.S. cities that now recognize the ID.

The ID cards are officially recognized by Chicago, Oakland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles as well as Colorado Springs, Hudson said.

The card is controversial because it is used mostly by illegal immigrants who cannot get a U.S. driver's license or other identification because of their immigration status.

INS spokesman Bill Strassberger said the agency cannot target gatherings of people for immigration checks without cause.

"It's dangerous when anyone starts making an assumption that all of a particular nationality, or all of a particular group, are illegal and should be deported," Strassberger said. "We've had cases thrown out where we've stopped someone and not been able to articulate the specific reasons why."

Mexican Consul General Leticia Calzada declined to respond directly to Tancredo's statements.

"It's only one voice among many other voices that are having good comments about what we are doing," she said.

Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., has introduced a bill to give the Apodacas permanent resident status. Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., has said he will introduce a similar measure in the House. Republican Gov. Bill Owens and Webb supports the lawmakers' efforts to help the Apodaca family.

As many as 65,000 undocumented teenagers graduate from high school each year, according to the Urban Institute.