http://www.currentargus.com/ci_5277548

Bank of America should rethink credit for illegal immigrants
The Current-Argus
Carlsbad Current-Argus
Article Launched:02/21/2007 09:45:12 PM MST

A corporation should show some sense of obligation to the society that supports it and a willingness to uphold that society's laws. Bank of America shows no such responsibility with its plan to issue credit cards to illegal immigrants.
The bank announced plans last week to begin offering credit cards to those without Social Security numbers or credit histories. People who don't have Social Security numbers are usually illegal immigrants.

It does not seem to matter to this huge financial services corporation that the country for which it is named faces a serious problem with illegal immigration.

There are at least 11 million illegal immigrants currently in America. More continue to arrive here in violation of our laws. This poses problems for the economy and for government services and causes cultural pressures.

Bank of America does not care that its actions will make it even easier for illegal immigrants to live here, thereby motivating more to come.

The company says its program, tested in Los Angeles where there is a large portion of illegal immigrants, doesn't violate any U.S. laws.

The bank also says its only motivation is to serve the unmet needs of potential customers.

What that really means is that Bank of America has found a segment of the market that isn't currently being exploited by credit cards.

That certainly can't be allowed. And if the bank can charge extra-high interest rates by issuing these high-risk credit cards, it'll be even better for corporate profits.

The bank will be making America's illegal immigration problem worse. It will be exploiting mostly poor people by sucking them into high-interest credit card debt. But the bank will be expanding its business, which is all that really matters.

"These people are coming here for quality of life, and they deserve somebody to give them a chance to achieve that quality of life," a bank spokesman told The Wall Street Journal.

This is about quality of life, all right. But the quality of life of illegal immigrants isn't likely to be enhanced by credit card debt. And the general quality of life in this country isn't likely to be improved by more criminal behavior in the form of illegal immigration.