Thread: El Banco de America disgraces its namesake

You have to love it when you read pieces like this written by someone in college, it provides a little hope for the future.


COLUMN: El Banco de America disgraces its namesake

Submitted by Michael Wilt on 02-23-07, 9:32 am |More from this Writer

The Bank of America, if we can even call it that, is moving ahead with plans to issue credit cards to illegal aliens residing in this country. Bank of America is of course headquartered in the United States and is subject to U.S. law. Fifty-one branches across the country are now issuing credit cards to people without identification, with the purpose of "establishing credit" for their customers. They don't need a social security number. They don't need any identification. Many of these customers are residing in this country illegally.

Yet despite outrage from the public, backlash from notable members of Congress such as Rep. Tom Tancredo, Rep. Marsha Blackburn and Sen. Richard Shelby, and possible legal ramifications, Bank of America continues to pander to illegal immigrants in a sickening display of capitalism at its worst.



What Bank of America is doing is disgraceful, and they should stop. It is in fact illegal to encourage, aid or abet illegal immigrants to come or to stay here, just as it would be illegal to help any other person commit any other type of crime. By encouraging illegal immigrants to "establish credit" in the United States of America and to continue to evade the prosecuting authorities of the government, Bank of America is placing itself in jeopardy of having violated 8 USC 1324, section IV, which states that any person who "encourages or induces an alien to come to, enter, or reside in the United States, knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that such coming to, entry, or residence is or will be in violation of law" will be punished, and section V, which states that any person who "engages in any conspiracy to commit any of the preceding acts, or aids or abets the commission of any of the preceding acts" shall be punished by law if it was done for commercial advantage or financial gain. Specifically, one could be fined and imprisoned for up to 10 years.

How is what Bank of America is doing not aiding and abetting or encouraging an alien to reside in the United States? They certainly know that undocumented aliens are here illegally. That is why they tested this program a year ago at five branches in Los Angeles and expanded it across the country into places where the highest percentages of illegal immigrants reside. The fact is that Bank of America is aware of their actions, the consequences of their actions, the commercial advantage they will earn and financial gain they will receive from this program.

Even if the program is not technically illegal, it is unethical, and it is also a security risk. Just imagine if the Bank of America extends a line of credit through this program to a terrorist who is here illegally? This is where the phrase "Sept. 11" actually might mean something, lest we wish to give a MasterCard to the next Mohammed Atta.

There are a lot of problems with the immigration system in this country, and it cannot be fixed overnight. We cannot deport every illegal immigrant who resides here, just as we should not grant amnesty to every illegal immigrant who resides here. Perhaps we should have a path to citizenship that an undocumented immigrant could take, over the course of several years.

We also need to improve the educational and health care systems that serve both our citizens and those who live in the shadows, because whether we like it or not, these people do live among us, and the key is they are people. As human beings they have a right to be treated respectfully, and we have a responsibility as a democratic society to treat them humanely. However, as a law-abiding society we also bear an obligation to follow laws, enforce them and to keep watch over our borders so we do not become a safe haven for drug dealers, terrorists and violent criminals. In areas with higher percentages of illegal immigrants, crime is becoming more of an issue, specifically gang-related violence.

If we do not enforce our laws on immigration, we may as well throw them out and throw out the entire idea of citizenship altogether. There are many law-abiding legal immigrants who work hard every day, seeking citizenship and paying their taxes, and yet no one ever seems to remember the fact that they are following the law. Why should they, when we do not bother to enforce it?

We need to fix our immigration system, and it starts with standing up to companies like Bank of America who take advantage of a situation for profit. If you have a credit card or a bank account with the Bank of America, you can join with many others across this country who have withdrawn their accounts. But do not just stop there - tell the Bank of America why you are doing so. Visit www.bankofamericaboycott.com for more information on the effort. Hopefully the bank will get the message, and they will stop their program. Maybe for once in American history, a major U.S. company can be slapped down by the people for its shameful greed-at-all-costs policies.

Michael Wilt is a senior in the College of Arts and Science.

http://www.insidevandy.com/drupal/node/3320

If we do not enforce our laws on immigration, we may as well throw them out and throw out the entire idea of citizenship altogether. There are many law-abiding legal immigrants who work hard every day, seeking citizenship and paying their taxes, and yet no one ever seems to remember the fact that they are following the law. Why should they, when we do not bother to enforce it?

To not enforce our immigration laws is a SLAP in the face to all the Legal Immigrants who took the path to citizenship through the correct legal avenues.

Interesting, considering this will be the first complete generation in college to become seriously maimed in the future by our existing broken government.

I am just glad to see that a college student wrote this and not all of them are blind to what is going on in our country.