Business Host Neil Cavuto Schedules Anti-Immigration Activists Arpaio and Dallacroce to Mouth Off Against JP Morgan Chase
Reported by Marie Therese - May 6, 2007 - 18 comments

FOX News Vice President for Business Neil Cavuto is awfully selective about his capitalism. He's all in favor of Hooters restaurants, Victoria's Secret lingerie boutiques and obscenely high buyout offers by his boss Rupert Murdoch, but doesn't think that a successful financial entity like JP Morgan Chase is entitled to LEGALLY offer mortgage loans to residents of other countries. But what can one expect from a guy who works for a company that slavishly aligns its daily reporting to daily memos sent out by John Moody and other management types at FOX News? On Thursday's Your World, Cavuto scheduled Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a man who takes pride in his "no quarter" approach to arresting illegal immigrants. Then in a double-dip on Friday his anti-Hispanic guest was Michelle Dallacroce, founder of Mothers Against Illegal Aliens.

Almost two years ago in July 2005 BusinessWeek reported that some of the big banks were considering offering credit cards and loans to residents of other countries living in the United States. Recently Bank of America came under fire by FOX News for legally offering $500 credit cards to "illegal" immigrants and last week JP Morgan Chase announced that it will offer mortgages to the same group. Consequently, it came as no surprise that Neil Cavuto would schedule a two-day immigrant bash-a-thon featuring Joe Arpaio and Michelle Dallacroce, two people who clearly are against the concept of non-citizens being able to buy houses, even legally!

Cavuto started off the May 3rd segment by expressing surprise that JPMC would target Maricopa County, Arizona to implement its new mortgage program, since Joe Arpaio is the Sheriff there. "Have the folks at JP Morgan Chase met this guy?" Cavuto asked, incredulously.

Arpaio launched into his talking points, saying "It's not good business. I am pro-business but to advertise this - I guess we'll have to advertise other groups, the ciminals, and have them take out loans. You know I've locked up 550 under state law and now I'm enforcing the federal law, so a lot of them are being deported. You think they're gong to pay their loans when they're in Mexico or other countries?"

Michael Barrerra of the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce made the point that the entire immigration system is broken and needs fixing. "When you get right down to it, these banks are making a business decision," Barrera noted. "When you get right down to it, these banks are making a business decision. And they'll make the decision whether these folks can pay back or not. And, actually, when you think about it, it's a $44 billion market but in the overall banking industry, it's a $12 trillion market."

Cavuto asked Arpaio what he thought of the fact that these loans are legal. Arpaio responded, saying "I think this is a bad perception. This is a big problem in our country. I don't think it's good business ... but we'll see how the public feels. Let the public make the decision."

Cavuto noted that the "public doesn't seem to care" and neither do the banks.

Arpaio was upset about this, repeating the urban myth that the banks would do this so they could reposess the houses and sell them. As someone noted recently on another of Cavuto's show, banks lose money on repossessions and are not really interested in having a lot of houses on their hands.

Neil Cavnuto apparently does not believe that residents of other countries have the right to use American banks, something that I find completely mind-boggling!

Sheriff Arpaio ended the segment by one more asking why the banks are limiting themselves to illegal immigrants and ultimately equating illegal immigration as a "crime" with murder and rape.

The following day it came as no surprise that Cavuto scheduled yet another immigrant-basher. This time it was Michelle Dallacroce, a manic woman who was clearly conflicted when she was called on to face down FOX News contributor Jonathan Hoenig, founder of CapitalistPig.com. Hoenig has adopted the position that immigration is necessary to the smooth functioning of the corporate establishment. As such, he became the mouthy Ms. Dallacroce's target in a segment more suited to talk radio than a nationally televised business show! The audience learned nothing from this exchange except that, if Rupert Murdoch succeeds in acquiring the Wall Street Journal, that venerable paper will be permanently contaminated by rubbing shoulders with tabloid tripe like this!

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