Bank for the Undocumented is just the tip of the iceberg

[doombug]

Bank accounts and credit cards for fence/line jumpers.

The commercials promoting this were aired during the recent Academy Awards ceremony; but in case anyone missed it, take a peek here (select "Window of Opportunity," top-right corner of the page): http://nationalpressrelease.bankofamerica.com/tvspots/

The story about Bank of America Mexico has been out for about a month, now. Recently, a video surfaced showing how not even banks in Mexico accept the matrícula as a suitable form of identification were someone to try opening an account south of the border:

http://www.bankofamericaboycott.com/ (Click on the YouTube image to start the video.)

"Aiding and abetting illegal aliens is a felony under federal law Section 8 USC 1324(a)(1)(A)(iv)(b)(iii). This law has a six year statute of limitations and companies currently violating these laws can be prosecuted up to six years in the future."
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54485

Roughly 255 banks accept the matricula to open an account. Two-hundred twenty, thankfully, don't. The banks that do and don't:

http://www.bankofamericaboycott.com/banklist/index.shtml

When I relocated to California back in 94', no bank would accept my valid out-of-state license as a form of I.D.

Disgusting. Disloyal. And detrimental.

An interesting note about the matrícula (in case anyone missed it in the embedded link above):

"In the United States, several states, municipalities, and businesses accept the Matrícula Consular as an official form of identification. The Matricula Consolar, like all Consular ID, is permitted to be used in this fashion by the USA Patriot Act, signed into law by Congress on October 26, 2001.

"On September 14, 2004 Congress voted down a motion to prevent financial institutions from accepting consular IDs."

Finally, these comments from one of our more sensible officials:

"The U.S. Government has done an extensive amount of research on the Matricula Consular, to assess its viability as a reliable means of identification. The Department of Justice and the FBI have concluded that the Matricula Consular is not a reliable form of identification, due to the non-existence of any means of verifying the true identity of the card holder. The following are the primary problems with the Matricula Consular that allow criminals to fraudulently obtain the cards:

"First, the Government of Mexico has no centralized database to coordinate the issuance of consular ID cards. This allows multiple cards to be issued under the same name, the same address, or with the same photograph.

"Second, the Government of Mexico has no interconnected databases to provide intra-consular communication to be able to verify who has or has not applied for or received a consular ID card.

"Third, the Government of Mexico issues the card to anyone who can produce a Mexican birth certificate and one other form of identity, including documents of very low reliability. Mexican birth certificates are easy to forge and they are a major item on the product list of the fraudulent document trade currently flourishing across the country and around the world. A September 2002 bust of a document production operation in Washington state illustrated the size of this trade. A huge cache of fake Mexican birth certificates was discovered. It is our belief that the primary reason a market for these birth certificates exists is the demand for fraudulently-obtained Matricula Consular cards.

"Fourth, in some locations, when an individual seeking a Matricula Consular is unable to produce any documents whatsoever, he will still be issued a Matricula Consular by the Mexican consular official, if he fills out a questionnaire and satisfies the official that he is who he purports to be.

"In addition to being vulnerable to fraud, the Matricula Consular is also vulnerable to forgery. There have been several generations of the card; and even the newest version can be easily replicated, despite its security features. It is our estimate that more than 90 percent of Matricula Consular cards now in circulation are earlier versions of the card, which are little more than simple laminated cards without any security features.

"As a result of these problems, there are two major criminal threats posed by the cards, and one potential terrorist threat.

"The first criminal threat stems from the fact that the Matricula Consular can be a perfect breeder document for establishing a false identity. It is our understanding that as many as 13 states currently accept the Matricula Consular for the purpose of obtaining a drivers' license. [Not for long, if the REAL ID Act sticks.] Once in possession of a driver's license, a criminal is well on his way to using the false identity to facilitate a variety of crimes, from money laundering to check fraud. And of course, the false identity serves to conceal a criminal who is already being sought by law enforcement. Individuals have been arrested with multiple Matricula Consular cards in their possession, each with the same photograph, but with a different name. Matching these false Matriculas are false driver's licenses, also found in the criminals' possession. Such false identities are particularly useful to facilitate the crime of money laundering, as the criminal is able to establish one or more bank accounts under completely fictitious names. Accounts based upon such fraudulent premises greatly hamper money-laundering investigations once the criminal activity is discovered. As the Subcommittee is well aware, the FBI is particularly concerned about fraudulent financial transactions in the post 9/11 environment, given the fact that foreign terrorists often rely on money transferred from within the United States.

"The second criminal threat is that of alien smuggling, a crime that has resulted in many deaths within the past year. Federal officials have arrested alien smugglers who have had as many as seven different Matricula Consular cards in their possession. The cards not only conceal the identity of the smuggler, they also serve as a magnet for the victims who are enticed to entrust their lives to the smugglers, believing that the Matricula Consular that awaits them will entitle them to all sorts of benefits within the United States."

http://www.fbi.gov/congress/congress03/mccraw062603.htm