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Op-Ed Contributor
They're Here to Stay and Its for Our Own Good
By Fred Morse
It was the Patriot Act that permitted banks to provide extended financial services (savings/checking accounts, credit cards, home mortgages, car loans, etc.) to illegal immigrants.
You didn't misread that and I didn't miswrite it.
As of Oct. 1, 2003, U.S. Treasury regulations (reference the Patriot Act, Section 326) required that banks obtain:
- Name
- Street Address
- Tax ID or SS number
- Birth date
The Patriot Act excludes any requirement to determine citizenship. Tax IDs (ITINs) are routinely issued to illegal immigrants by the IRS in order that they can file income tax returns without social security numbers.
Former Treasury Secretary John Snow in a letter to Congress in 2004 wrote: "Not accepting the "matricula consular" card would drive large sections of the U.S. (illegal) population to underground financial services, and weaken the government's ability to enforce money laundering and terrorist financing laws." (Editor's note: the "matricula consular" card is an easily obtainable Mexican ID card for name and birth date verification)
This makes it vividly clear that President George W. Bush and his administration fully intended that by law, illegal immigrants would have unobstructed access to a full range of banking functions. Why in the world did anybody think that it was a scheme by Bank of America, which does not have the authority to enact laws?
Presdident Bush now wants a "comprehensive immigration law".
I confess that I can't possibly imagine what his actual intention might be. But I suspect that he doesn't plan to send the illegals home before they pay off their 30-year mortgages.
So that means the illegals are here to stay and its for our own good!
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