http://www.spcm.org/Journal/spip.php?article6622

Congressman says banking privileges for illegals a national security threat
Jim Brown
samedi, 17 février 2007
(Saturday, 17 February 2007)

U.S. Congressman Ted Poe (R-Texas) feels Bank of America is hindering the war on terrorism by encouraging illegal aliens and others to obtain credit and bank cards without Social Security numbers. It is hard enough for American citizens to obtain credit, the lawmaker insists, without banks "playing preference" to illegal immigrants by allowing them to open card accounts without the proper documentation.

"And it’s all in the name of money," Poe says. "It’s not what’s best for America. It’s all about money and maybe what’s best for Bank of America," he contends.

The Texas conservative says that financial institution, by extending its services in this way, is sending the wrong message to drug cartels and terrorists. These "people who want to do us harm look at this as another opportunity to open accounts, to store money for a later time to be used against the rest of us," he asserts.

Poe feels this move by the Bank of America demonstrates that the company is interested in profit at the expense of national security. "Certainly, the Patriot Act applies," he says ; "but all this does is weaken the concept of accountability as to what persons are opening these accounts."

Since those who open accounts under the new policy "have no Social Security and basically no identification," the congressman adds, "it’s going to be more difficult to fight the war on terrorism." He says it now up to the Justice Department "to investigate whether Bank of America has taken advantage of any loopholes in the law" for the sake of financial gain.

Incidentally, this bank is "no stranger" to offering services to illegal aliens, Poe contends, noting that the "Send Money to Mexico" link on its website is in Spanish and boasts how easy it is open an account and send money out of the United States. Now, the Texas Republican says, Bank of America needs to be held accountable for its "unwise" decision to encourage illegal aliens by extending them credit and allowing them to open accounts without a Social Security card