I find it odd that Catherine "Zeta" Jones was in the movie Traffic which dealt with this subject.

quote:

The name Zeta was taken from the Mexican federal police in Tamaulipas, who used it in the late 1980s as radio code to locate high-ranking battalion commanders.

I don't understand it. Officially, the Border Patrol is tasked with doing their best to keep illegal immigrants out. But if an illegal can make it to a city north of the border, then it's like they're free. They're free to go to the hospital, free to enroll their kids in school and now they are free to obtain home loans!

Banking on illegal immigrants
Banks are seeing an untapped resource in providing home loans to undocumented U.S. residents
August 8, 2005: 3:39 PM EDT
By Shaheen Pasha, CNN/Money staff writer

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The banking industry is opening its doors to a controversial new market: illegal immigrants.

Despite heated political debate in Washington over illegal immigration in the United States, an increasing number of banks are seeing an untapped resource for growing their own revenue stream and contend that providing undocumented residents with mortgages will help revitalize local communities.

It's a win-win situation, they say.

But skeptics worry about the message these home loans send to illegal immigrants: break our laws and we'll reward you with a home.

"It's institutionalizing illegality," said Marti Dinerstein, president of Immigration Matters, a New York-based think tank. "Now there's no distinction being made between the people that follow all the rules and those who break our laws by entering the country or overstaying their visas."

Dinerstein also worried that lack of knowledge on the part of illegal immigrants could pave the way for abuse in the form of predatory lending.

But advocates of the practice say the benefits outweigh any potential downside.

According to the Center for Immigration Studies, one million illegal immigrants cross the U.S. borders every year. About 500,000 illegal immigrants lose that status every year either by getting legitimate green cards or returning to their native countries. That leaves a 500,000 annual net increase of illegal immigrants – a market that has unmet banking needs.

"This is a huge untapped market with people that live and work in this country and are capable of buying homes to realize the American dream," said Chan Peterson, executive vice president and head of community banking at Banco Popular, one of the earliest banks to enter this field.

He added that there's a common misperception that illegal immigrants will be more likely to default on their loans than a documented resident. But the company has found that there is no higher rate of default in this loan portfolio than any other market the company serves.

"There's a pride that comes with people moving from renting to owning and we've found that these borrowers are driven to hang on to their homes," Peterson said.

Bill Schumer, vice president of product development at Fifth Third Mortgage Co., a unit of Fifth Third Bancorp. (Research), said the company entered the marketplace due to the belief that providing these low-to-moderate income loans will help revitalize communities in the United States, as borrowers buy more run-down properties and rebuild.

He added that by introducing this segment of the population to home ownership education, they are also building a foundation to cross-sell their other products.

"We've been at this program for the last 8 or 9 months and 68 percent of these borrowers have established three or more banking services with us," he said.

While Schumer wasn't willing to disclose how many of mortgages the company provides, he said the product has been well received in the marketplace and is already 4 percent above the level the bank had targeted for the year. And it's growing.

That's not surprising, said Alenka Grealish, manager of the banking group at Celent, an independent research and consulting firm.

Grealish said while the mortgage banking business in the U.S. continues to be red hot, veterans know that it's a highly cyclical industry that moves with interest rate trends. She said that forward-looking banks are already considering how to grow their business when the pipeline of traditional mortgages begins to dry up.

"Illegal immigrants are here to stay and banks are recognizing that," she said. "If you do a niche market well and know how to price it, banks can have some attractive margins."

She added that while criticism is rampant, banks are careful to follow guidelines that the government already has in place.

Case in point: the government's issuance of individual taxpayer identification numbers, or ITINs.

ITINs are a nine-digit tax processing number issued by the Internal Revenue Service to individuals who are required to have a U.S. taxpayer identification number but who don't have, and aren't eligible to obtain, a social security number. Since the IRS doesn't require legal residency to obtain an ITIN, many illegal immigrants use this form of identification to pay U.S. taxes and buy homes.

"Illegal immigrants are a huge gray area and it becomes even more gray when you start issuing ITINs," Grealish said. "There's complicity already within the government in which they're saying that they're kind of fine with these people here as long as they pay their taxes."

The IRS for its part says that ITINs aren't valid for identification purposes outside of the tax system. But there are no explicit rules banning the use of ITINs in obtaining mortgages.

Banco Popular's Peterson added that it would be discriminatory to deny a loan based on an ITIN.

For now, community banks are leading the charge when it comes to providing home loans for illegal immigrants. Banking experts say that community banks often have the bilingual capabilities and are more in tune with local community needs and markets.

And larger banks are holding out for secondary markets such as Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac to agree to buy illegal immigrant mortgages from the banks – thus lowering their risk.

Bank of America (Research), which accepts ITINs to open interest-bearing deposit accounts, currently isn't offering a mortgage product to this market but the banking giant is looking into it, said spokeswoman Julie Davis.

"Banks are counting on the fact that we do a lousy job with interior enforcement," said Celent's Grealish. "Once you're in the country and you haven't done anything wrong, the chances of being deported are very slim. Banks are banking on that."

One of the problems with giving home loans to illegal aliens is that banks will have a vested interest in keeping illegal aliens here. That means the powerful banking lobby could lobby the White House against legislation deemed anti-immigrant.

But they may already be lobbying!

They will propbly Lobby Ilegeal aliens have already entered our Hud programs CA.has already passed a lot of laws against such programs but are held up in their Courts the same with Medical programs.

Pat Buchanan Says Bush Should Be Impeached Over Illegal Immigration Crisis:

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46019

I think Buchanan has a good point!

Tow some of the stuff Bucanan said is true but what bothers New Meicans is all of a suden Bill Richardison suddenly changeing his tune toward Ilegal Aliens has he misused funds that were made available to us last year or is he simply using this to get him to the White House.I don't know how Arizona feels about this problem ask (gunny).But I know we have for many years had problems with people with big money around New Mexico supporting Ilegals.

"Mexican Immigrant" kills Dallas police officer.

http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/state/13161962.htm

LOL

Yesterday, in a speech about the border problem, President Bush said: "If you look at the size of this border, you can't add enough agents." Yet, a centerpiece of his proposal is to add more agents. I don't get it. In my view there are only two viable solutions - a really big fence from coast to coast OR impose very hefty fines on Americans who hire illegal aliens. If the illegals can't work, many won't come!

You hit the nail on the head. The problem is political. Business owners contribute to political candidates in both parties and expect favors. There are about 11-million illegal aliens in this country that count on the census to determine the number of representatives each state is allowed in the federal congressional election – no one wants to touch that one either.

The fines have to be heavier and the law has to be changed to include only citizens when determining the number of congressional representatives each state is allowed.

Had a herd run behind my house the other night There's a small "channel" that runs behind my house between our walled in community and Fort Huachuca. Thought they were illegals, but then again.....

Washington Times
January 17, 2006
Pg. 1

Mexican Military Incursions Reported

By Jerry Seper, The Washington Times

The U.S. Border Patrol has warned agents in Arizona of incursions into the United States by Mexican soldiers "trained to escape, evade and counterambush" if detected -- a scenario Mexico denied yesterday.

The warning to Border Patrol agents in Tucson, Ariz., comes after increased sightings of what authorities described as heavily armed Mexican military units on the U.S. side of the border. The warning asks the agents to report the size, activity, location, time and equipment of any units observed.

It also cautions agents to keep "a low profile," to use "cover and concealment" in approaching the Mexican units, to employ "shadows and camouflage" to conceal themselves and to "stay as quiet as possible."

Border Patrol spokesman Salvador Zamora confirmed that a "military incursion" warning was given to Tucson agents, but said it was designed to inform them how to react to any sightings of military and foreign police in this country and how to properly document any incursion.

Mr. Zamora added that although incursions by the Mexican military do occur, they usually have taken place in areas of the border "not marked by monuments or signs." He said U.S. military units also have crossed mistakenly into Mexico.

But Rafael Laveaga, spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in Washington, denied that Mexican military personnel are crossing into the United States.

"I strongly deny any incursions by the Mexican military as inaccurate allegations," Mr. Laveaga said. "The Mexican military is a well-respected institution with strict rules on how to control Northern Mexico. It maintains a protocol of not going within a mile of the border, and those who would trespass would be severely punished."

Mr. Laveaga said some drug smugglers headed "both north and south" wear uniforms and drive military-type vehicles, and might have "confused" U.S. authorities.

"Give me a break," said T.J. Bonner, a 27-year Border Patrol veteran who heads the National Border Patrol Council. "Intrusions by the Mexican military to protect drug loads happen all the time and represent a significant threat to the agents.

"Why else would they be in the area, firing at federal agents in the United States? There is no other explanation," said Mr. Bonner, whose organization represents all 10,000 of the nonsupervisory Border Patrol agents.

He also challenged reports that Mexican military units had crossed mistakenly into the United States, saying, "Every country's military has a [global positioning system] nowadays, including the Mexicans.

"If the border is so poorly marked, why don't the thousands of Border Patrol agents working 24/7 along it ever seem to get lost, and none of us have been issued a GPS," he said.

A Pentagon spokeswoman said yesterday that she had no information on the reported incursions.

A total of 216 incursions by suspected Mexican military units have been documented since 1996 -- 75 in California, 63 in Arizona and 78 in Texas, according to a Department of Homeland Security report.

Attacks on Border Patrol agents in the past few years have been attributed to current or former Mexican military personnel. U.S. law-enforcement officials have long thought that current and former Mexican soldiers are being paid to protect drug shipments bound for the United States.

Several agents said the attacks have escalated in the past two years as U.S. security efforts on the border have increased -- including the July shooting of two agents in an ambush near Nogales, Ariz., by assailants in black commando-type clothing, who fired more than 50 rounds. Authorities said the gunmen used military-style cover-and-concealment tactics to escape back into Mexico. No one has been arrested.

Santa Cruz County, Ariz., Sheriff Tony Estrada said that at least four shooters were involved and that his deputies found commando clothing, food, water and other "sophisticated equipment" at the site.

Several former Mexican soldiers trained in the U.S. as anti-drug commandos are now part of a well-armed gang known as the "Zetas," which has been linked to hundreds of killings and kidnappings on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border in southeastern Texas.

Many of the gang members have been identified as ex-members of an elite, anti-drug paratroop and intelligence battalion called the Special Air Mobile Force Group, who deserted in 1991.

quote:

Originally posted by patoloco:







.



A Pentagon spokeswoman said yesterday that she had no information on the reported incursions.

And we thought Brown's response to Katrina was pathetic.
The hundred of billion's the Pentagon absorbs every year and they evidently can't afford a cell phone, a PC, or cable TV in order to watch all the nightly reports on TV, Lou Dobb's showed one tonight. Guess George doesn't watch that channel either. Zero response.
I'm at a loss, what kind of notification does an American citizen have to give DC that a foreign government has invaded the US. What kind of documentation do we have to provide?