Years ago with great difficulty I was able to convince an INS agent at a land crossing into the US to issue a new one for a girlfriend at the time. Back then (late 80's) it was incredibly difficult to do, so difficult in fact that the officer outside couldn;t believe that I had gotten the guy inside to do it. I've got to believe that in today's climate it would be near impossible. The guys best bet would be to find the cheapest flight available to venezuela or Ireland or somewhere, spend the weekend and then come back.