Posted on 02/26/2007 5:55:14 AM PST by John Jorsett
Even as the federal government is starting to crack down on companies that hire illegal immigrants, it's been helping those same workers send money home, cheap.
Dubbed Directo a Mexico, the Federal Reserve-sponsored service allows customers without Social Security numbers to wire money through the Fed system to Mexico's central bank at little cost. In September, the Fed expanded the remittance program by allowing immigrants, legal or not, to open accounts at participating banks and credit unions in the U.S. or Mexico. About 27,000 transfers are made through the program each month.
The program has attracted the attention of conservative immigration activists and members of Congress, who say financial institutions shouldn't cater to illegal immigrants.
Rep. Brian P. Bilbray (R-Solana Beach), who leads the congressional Immigration Reform Caucus, said Directo a Mexico and programs like it should be stopped and that participating banks were "profiteering from illegal immigration."
Bilbray is also targeting Bank of America Corp., which this month announced plans to offer credit cards to immigrants without Social Security numbers, drawing complaints that the nation's largest retail bank was underwriting illegal immigration.
"It's illegal for a landlord to do it, it's illegal for an employer to do it, and it should be illegal for financial institutions to do it," Bilbray said.
Bank of America has said that it complied fully with all banking and anti-terrorism laws governing customer identification, which permit the use of forms of ID other than Social Security numbers.
Bilbray said legislators were working on proposals that would prevent financial institutions such as the Fed and Bank of America from catering to illegal immigrants, and are calling on the Bush administration to address the issue.
Elizabeth McQuerry, an Atlanta-based assistant vice president for the Fed's retail payments office, said Directo a Mexico wasn't breaking any laws.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Gee, you don't suppose Islamic terrorists have opened accounts at the Mexican central bank, do you?
The Bush administration has addressed the issue and we are the losers. They care only for increasing illegal immigration without regard to stopping drug traffic and terrorists crossing the border. Rewards for illegals is the major commitment of the Bush administration.
Imagine how you would have been flamed if you had posted your accurate comment prior to the November election.
Just because someone needs to send money via our system doesn't mean that we ought to put them in our Socialist Security program.
Socialist Security is already a massive boondoggle, the greatest Ponzi scheme ever engineered. Adding even more useless load to this stupid system just doesn't make sense to me.
I think we should at the least privatize Socialist Security, although I would be even more pleased if we could just end it.
Patiot Act loop holes for the criminals, liberal lawyers, banks, will have us all dead soon.
Or drug smugglers?
Or people smugglers?
Many Americans think that social security is their retirement plan. The rest of us know it's a tax.
It's free money without the appearance of inflation.
I wouldn't have flamed anyone over it - I've been distressed about Bush's stance on illegal immigration since last summer at least - when it finally dawned on me that he wasn't on my side in this. This is when the GOP put a losing election in motion. Has nothing to do with them being "too conservative". The vast majority of the American people - liberal & conservative - don't like the illegal flood.
That's when I finally removed the Bush stickers from my vehicle.
All of us should spend the $29 to get matricula cards in a false name, then walk down to our banks and open up accounts with a token sum of say $25, under that false name.
Evidently Bilbray can't make the distinction between the Federal Govt and the Federal Reserve
If you want to make people angry, lie to them.
If you want to make them absolutely livid, then tell 'em the truth.
It isn't so much that we need them enrolled, but that having an SSN is the closest thing we've got to an indicator that you're in the country legally.
Bilbray said legislators were working on proposals that would prevent financial institutions such as the Fed and Bank of America from catering to illegal immigrants, and are calling on the Bush administration to address the issue.
Good luck with that since the Bush Administration is the one who instituted the policy.
You'd almost swear the Patriot act was written before 9/11 and that nobody that voted on it actually read it before they voted. Oh wait...
Reading is fundamental.
What a crock! Who wants to make a guess as to how much of this money was earned under the table and has not been taxed? If I were in charge, there would be a %30 or %40 percent surcharge on transfers to Mexico that would be deductible on your income tax return.
If you apply fgor a card or loan using an ITIN, does the bank verify address or identity? Is a Matricula Consular required?
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