For some Mexican immigrants, their next medical visit might be at the consulate
LOS ANGELES - On a recent morning at the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles, people clutched manila folders swollen with documents. Others shuffled through papers cradled in their laps.
Surrounded by dull orange walls, they faced numbered counters and listened for their names to be called.
It seemed like a typical scene of bland, plodding bureaucracy. Until a woman stepped to the front of the room, got the crowd's attention and asked whether anyone could name a sexually transmitted disease.
"Syphilis, gonorrhea," a man called out from the front row.
The woman then explained that if they wished, consulate visitors could get tested for STDs, including HIV, on the spot, while they waited. The results would be available immediately.
"Today, we
