http://www.dailynewstranscript.com/loca ... leid=72620

Trying to cut illegals off from world of banking
By Emelie Rutherford
Thursday, February 23, 2006

BOSTON -- Emboldened by the defeat of a bill to grant illegal immigrants’ kids tuition breaks, some activists and lawmakers are trying to stop immigrants from using foreign ID cards to do banking in state.

Robert Casimiro, executive director of the Massachusetts Coalition for Immigration Reform, said a bill lawmakers will weigh next month is intended to ban illegal immigrants from Mexico from opening bank accounts with a "matricula consular," a card Mexican consulates issue to Mexican nationals living here.

"It’s just trying to prohibit anything that gives illegal aliens entryway into our processes and procedures," Casimiro said about the bill filed at his request by state Sen. Robert Hedlund, R-Weymouth. "I take exception to a foreign country...signing up illegal immigrants for any documents."

The Mexican Consulate in Boston does not require applicants for "matriculas" to prove they are fully documented. Requirements for a card include a Mexican or U.S. ID, a Mexican birth certificate and proof of address in the United States, said Deputy Consul Rodrigo Marquez.

Marquez said the issuance of the matriculas is not meant to be tied to immigration enforcement. Mexico has been issuing the matriculas for more than 100 years, he said, noting other countries can issue the documents intended to show foreign nationals are registered with their consulates or embassies.

"We always tell people that this doesn’t mean they’re documented or undocumented, it’s just proof that they’re registered with us," Marquez said. "The matricula is the proof of registration. The banks decide what to do with the matricula."

Hedlund’s bill would ban state-chartered banks from doing business with immigrants whose only forms of identification are foreign-government issued documents like the matriculas. The bill still would allow banks to accept passports and Canadian drivers’ licenses. The joint Financial Services Committee will consider the legislation during a March 7 hearing.

State Rep. Marie Parente, D-Milford, supports the bill.

"I don’t think any foreign country has the right to give any kind of documents that appear to make (illegal immigrants) legal," Parente said. "Anyone who has gone through the tremendous effort of supplying documentation should not have to stand by and see people who have no standing in this country get what is a permit from their foreign country."

Hedlund’s bill would apply only to state-chartered banks. Bank of America, a national bank, allows customers to open accounts with matriculas, according to Ali Noorani, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition.

Noorani said immigrants should be allowed to have basic banking abilities regardless of their documentation status. Immigrants could always forge documents to open bank accounts, he pointed out.

"I think a stable banking system is much more important than asking bankers to serve as immigration officials," Noorani said.

Laura Medrano, executive director of MetroWest Latin American Center and vice president of the Northeast chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens, called Hedlund’s bill "ridiculous."



(Emelie Rutherford can be reached at 617-722-2495 or erutherford@cnc.com.)