Oct. 23, 2006
 
COMMENTARY: Federal Reserve Bank Assisting Illegal Alien Lawbreakers
 
By Jim Kouri
Special to Huntington News Network
 
While the mainstream news media are hard at work covering the Rep. Mark Foley "Pagegate" scandal or helping the Democrats to achieve their dream of capturing control of the House of Representatives and Senate, the Federal Reserve Bank is working with the Mexican government to make it easier for illegal aliens to export US money to their homeland.
 
The Fed is currently devising several programs that will extend banking services to illegal aliens, according to The Wall Street Journal. Most of this money transfer scheme is being created under the radar and few, if any, political figures are discussing the subject.
 
One proposal is for a new remittance program with the ultimate goal of bringing illegal Mexican aliens -- who send money home -- into the mainstream the US financial system, regardless of immigration status. In other words, The Federal Reserve Bank is attempting to aid lawbreakers in moving their cash around in the US and Mexico.
 
"Directo a Mexico," the name of the program, enables US commercial banks to make money transfers for Mexican workers through the Federal Reserve's own automated clearinghouse, which is linked to Banco de Mexico, the Mexican central bank. Few Americans are aware of the connection between the Fed and foreign banks and this program would be just another that exists in the shadow world of international banking.
 
To use the service, a Mexican need only possess a matricula consular, an ID issued by the Mexican consulate in most major US cities to those with proof of Mexican birth or citizenship, or a picture ID card issued by the US or another foreign government. The idea is to make it cheaper and safer for illegal workers to send funds to their relatives in Mexico.
 
While on the surface, this may appear to be a good idea for banks, it's an idea based on lawbreakers being given assistance in moving their money around. The Mexican drug trafficker will be able to take advantage of this new banking system as much as the illegal worker cleaning toilets.
 
Most law enforcement commanders recognize the Matricula Consular card as a useless identification document. In fact, some US government agencies still refuse to accept them as identification documents.
 
Most illegal aliens make cash transfers, which average $350 each, through companies like Western Union or a hodgepodge of wire-transfer firms, couriers and others that operate out of storefronts in Hispanic enclaves. Family members then collect the wired cash at a shop in their town or village.
 
The Federal Reserve Bank and Banco de Mexico launched a cross-country road show during the summer to promote the new funds-transfer program to commercial banks, according to the Wall Street Journal.
 
Banks that offer the service hope to attract new customers, according to the Financial Times.
 
The Federal Reserve Bank's primary goal is to use the program to draw hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens into our banking system because commercial banks require that those wanting the service first open a savings account. While American citizens will continue to be required to show extensive identification and proof of residence, illegal aliens will only be required to show a Matricula Consular card, which are known to be counterfeited and sold by human smugglers.
 
"People who didn't have bank accounts establish a relationship with us," said James Maloney, chairman of Mitchell Bank in Milwaukee, one of the first banks to offer the Federal Reserve Bank's remittance scheme, according to WSJ.
 
"It's great for our business."
 
Remittances sent by Mexicans topped $15.5 billion in the first eight months of this year, 20 percent higher than the amount sent during the same period in 2005, according to Mexico's central bank, and this year's annual figure is expected to hit a new record. Savings scraped together by nannies, painters and others working abroad are now Mexico's second-largest source of foreign revenue, after oil exports and ahead of tourism, according to analysts interviewed by the WSJ.
 
The Federal Reserve Bank, always a friend to foreign interests, is instructing illegal aliens that should they return home on their own or should they be deported, their money is safe whether it was obtained working as a busboy in a restaurant or working as an enforcer in a sex-slave house.
 
The Fed has already set up a system by which illegals can retrieve their money through easy access at an ATM in Mexico using their debit cards.
 
And whom do we have to thank for this financial windfall for illegal aliens? President George W. Bush. He mandated the program.
 
A team at the Federal Reserve Bank in Atlanta joined forces with a team at the Mexican central bank to design the Directo a Mexico program in response to a mandate by President Bush, following the US-Mexico Partnership for Prosperity struck by Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox in 2001.
 
One of the stated objectives was to lower the cost paid by Mexican workers to send money to their native country. It's bargain time for illegal aliens. Now, if only Bush and the rest of our elected officials would look out for the interests of US citizens.