Mexican banks tougher than U.S. on Mexicans
Mar 14, 2007
WorldNetDaily

Activists working to secure U.S. borders and bring illegal immigration under control say Mexican banks are tougher on Mexicans than U.S. institutions are, refusing to accept as valid IDs those matricula consular cards Mexico issues.

As WND has reported, dozens of major United States banking institutions led by Bank of America are implementing a nationwide amnesty program for illegals by accepting the cards issued by consulates and described by critics as a "laminated piece of paper."

But officials with Americans for Legal Immigration say they've documented refusals by several large Mexican banking corporations to accept the same documentation.

Topics:  Illegal immigration, Mexican banks, Matricula consular cards, Bank of America, consulates, video, William Gheen, ALIPAC, boycott, banks, Wells Fargo, Citibank, amnesty plan, U.S. sovereignty, Washington DC, law enforcement, driver's license, aiding and abetting, U.S. Treasury Department

The group recorded several requests to banking companies in Mexico, including Banorte, Banamex and HSBC.

The video, which was recorded in Spanish but has subtitles in English, reveals the following conversation in different versions for each bank:

    Bank: Good morning.
    Caller: This is the situation. I am living in the United States, but I don't have documents. I am not living here legally. I would like to live in Tijuana. I have the consular card. Can I open an account with this type of ID.

    Bank: No. You need a Mexican passport or federal ID.

    Caller: So the matricula is not considered?

    Bank: By itself. No.

"It is very revealing that Mexican banks have enough sense to refuse these cards but American banks don't," said ALIPAC's William Gheen. "We applaud this video, which shows us proof that Mexican banks are refusing to accept matricula cards issued by the Mexican government to illegals in our country.

"We hope many American banks will take note and stop accepting the matriculas," said Gheen, who encourages people to visit the BankofAmericaBoycott site and join in the boycott.

That boycott is being supported by more than 100 organizations fighting illegal immigration, said Gheen, whose ALIPAC is one of the largest national organizations waging that battle.

"Americans need to fight back against this hypocrisy and rein these big banks in," Gheen said. "Only illegal aliens need a matricula card for banking, therefore any bank accepting that card is doing business with illegals."

The boycott site also lists about 500 banking companies, and tells whether they do or do not accept the matricula cards. Gheen's group said the list "is intended as a suggestion for those moving their money out of Bank of America and other illegal alien abetting banks like Wells Fargo and Citibank."

WND had reported that the amnesty plan outlined by the Center for Immigration Studies four years ago is gaining notoriety only now because of the Mexican government's specific goal of flying under the radar by working with local and area jurisdictions, instead of national leaders.

The report, written by CIS Fellow Marti Dinerstein, said Mexico's approach is a "direct challenge to U.S. sovereignty."

Her report documents Mexico's campaign to institutionalize the card to provide "quasi-legal" status for illegals in the U.S "without waiting for action from Washington." She said in addition to banking institutions, local law enforcement agencies also have been lobbied by Mexico and hundreds now have begun accepting the card as official for the purpose of obtaining a driver's license.

Once that is obtained, the consular card can be thrown away, because the rest of the official documentation in the U.S. hinges on that license, the report said.

Worse yet, the acceptance of Mexico's card "sets a precedent, making it almost impossible to reject similar cards presented by illegal aliens from other countries, including those which have sent terrorists to the United States in the past," the report said.

Gheen said the problem is that any program that helps illegal aliens in their efforts to live in the U.S. is illegal itself, under an "aiding and abetting" ban.

"At first blush it seems almost impossible to believe that some of the largest and most prestigious banks in the country are knowingly offering accounts to Mexican illegal aliens," the CIS report said. "The most important reason is that neither banking regulators nor the U.S. Treasury Department have objected to opening banking accounts for Mexican illegals who use the matricula as their identification. In fact, a good case can be made that regulators and the Treasury Department have tacitly encouraged banks to do so."

Britney Sheehan, a spokeswoman for Bank of America, disputed the allegation the financial institution is targeting illegal immigrants. She said the pilot program is intended to assist existing customers in developing a credit history by providing them with a secured credit card with a very low spending limit. She added the program is in compliance with the nation's laws, including the USA PATRIOT Act.

Section 326 of the law, which relates to regulations for the identification and verification of account holders at financial institutions, outlines a set of minimum requirements for banks. The law requires financial institutions to verify the identity of any person seeking an account "to the extent reasonable and practicable" and requires the bank to maintain records of "information used to verify a person's identity, including name, address and other identifying information." Additionally, banks must compare the name of the applicant to lists of known or suspected terrorists.

The law also requires the U.S. Treasury Department, in consultation with the appropriate federal regulators, to study issues such as how to handle foreign nationals who wish to open an account and provide suggestions to Congress.

Recommendations issued by the Treasury Department would require financial institutions to accept one or more of the following:

"A U.S. taxpayer identification number; a passport number and country of issuance; an alien identification card number; or the number and country of issuance of any other government-issued document evidencing nationality or residence and bearing a photograph or similar safeguard."

This regulation would include Matricula Consular cards issued by Mexican consuls, a document that has some concerned is not reliable enough.

Gheen said the leaders of his organization have been able to obtain several forged Matricula Consular cards and indicated, ironically, members of his organization have contacted major banks in Mexico and found they would not even accept the documents for verification purposes.

Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) has expressed concern forged Matricula Consular cards could be used by terrorists to open bank accounts and has urged Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to look into the program, according to a report in the Baltimore Sun.
 
Hector Raul Acosta, who heads the Mexican consulate in Presidio, told the Reporter-Telegram he is aware of no instances of fabrication of Matricula Consular cards occurring since the security features of the documents were upgraded about five years ago. He said the form of identification is one of the most trustworthy worldwide and emphasized this was not his personal opinion, but that of recognized security experts.

http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=57279