ESR | October 23, 2006 | Federal Reserve Bank assisting illegal alien lawbreakers — Here’s a story for you. This is going on while we are trying to build a wall? What gives?
While the mainstream news media are hard at work covering the Rep. Mark Foley “Pagegate” scandal or helping the Democrats to achieve their dream of capturing control of the House of Representatives and Senate, the Federal Reserve Bank is working with the Mexican government to make it easier for illegal aliens to export US money to their homeland.
The Fed is currently devising several programs that will extend banking services to illegal aliens, according to The Wall Street Journal. Most of this money transfer scheme is being created under the radar and few, if any, political figures are discussing the subject.
One proposal is for a new remittance program with the ultimate goal of bringing illegal Mexican aliens — who send money home — into the mainstream the US financial system, regardless of immigration status. In other words, The Federal Reserve Bank is attempting to aid lawbreakers in moving their cash around in the US and Mexico.
“Directo a Mexico,” the name of the program, enables US commercial banks to make money transfers for Mexican workers through the Federal Reserve’s own automated clearinghouse, which is linked to Banco de Mexico, the Mexican central bank. Few Americans are aware of the connection between the Fed and foreign banks and this program would be just another that exists in the shadow world of international banking.
I have to say this is BS. Really. Just look at the opening sentence of the piece and you can see that your source – what ever it may be – has a serious agenda here, and is NOT presenting facts or the truth….
“While the mainstream news media are hard at work… helping the Democrats to achieve their dream….”
JOHN – The outfit that put this article out is tied to the Heritage Foundation, which as you probably know is a neocon “think tank” that was one of the biggest proponents of the Iraq war.
The author’s real concern is $$. Illegal immigrants don’t get any Social Security or Health benefits. Their employers don’t pay into the system. This is the way big business likes it.
Right now, wiring money out of country is a hugely profitable business. Lots of service fees and charges. It’s almost extortion. If the Govt. provides a cheaper means for transferring money, it’ll hurt profits, but it’ll help people. Yeah, they may be here illegally, but they are still people who have needs. And don’t forget, the business that employ them are the real culprits in the whole equation. The Govt. should fine the crap out of these employers.
$150,000 for 1 illegal download of a copyrighted song???! How about $150,000 for each employee a company hires that isn’t able to work legally?!!!!
I agree with Rob on the $150,000 per employee that isn’t legal. It’s time these companies quit getting almost-slave labor. They aren’t doing jobs that American’s don’t want to do; they’re doing jobs Americans wouldn’t do THAT CHEAP! I say bust all the employers and you automatically kill the illegal immigration problem. Oh, and stop giving them free health care and schools.
Wow. We get labor and they get green pieces of paper which only have value as long as our economyc doesn’t collapse. Tell me again – how is a little green piece of paper “wealth”?
And #1 – your assertion that government making it cheaper for transfer. likely also means that we taxpayers are subsidizing that transfer.
Also, why should employers be in the business of checking out whether the person they want to hire is legal by government standards? It’s the job of the government to fix the problem of illegal immigration – not employers. In fact, if an INS agent makes a mistake or lets a bunch of immigrants through, he doesn’t get fined some incredible amount, go to jail or even lose his job – but somehow employers have to be accountable in such extreme ways?
…and this program would be just another that exists in the shadow world of international banking.
Shadow World of International Banking?
I’m wating for a debit-card system to be developed. Give the card(s) to the family back home, and have the person working in the US add money to the account…
… and the bank would automatically figure the exchange rate, the same way they do for me when I make purchases during travel to foreign countries. đ
So let me get this straight. Because there is a vague association with the Heritage Foundation it’s all a pack of lies? Hmmmm.. Odd.
bah but its ok for thousands of maids and nannies to send $$ back to the philipeans just because their legal-real-citizens
The Federal Reserve Bank is attempting to aid lawbreakers in moving their cash around in the US and Mexico.
Another way to look at it is that it allows the government to track more of this money flow, instead of letting it go through a diverse number of private [for-profit] wire-transfer operations.
People complain about how “terrorists” can transfer money via halawas, and debate whether US monitoring of the SWIFT system should have been kept secret or not.
http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2006/06/did_it_matter_i.html
How is mainstreaming of more money transfers out of the US not helping us to “follow the money”?
How many illegals already avoid bank accounts for fear of attracting INS attention?
Will illegals see this system as a plus in speeding money home, or as another way for the US Government to identify them?
#3, BHK
As a society, we have put some restrictions on our behavior. Some are for personal protection, such as we don’t hit or steal from each other. As well, we decided that we will have conduct regulated in other ways, such as not allow companies to dump toxic waste into the air or water. Companies will also collect and remit tax monies from each employee. In order to ensure that every person gets and pays their due, we will all have individual numbers and it will be a crime to knowing use or hire someone using a fraudulent number. In order to harmonize and make our society more efficient, only Americans and those authorized to work here may.
Now that is a very quick explanation. I would also like to point out that it is a crime to pollute our air and water. It is a crime to not pay someone at least minimum wage. It is a crime to not submit the required deductions from each employee. It is a crime to hire someone who is not eligible to work in the U.S. So why is it the employer’s responsibility to check these things? Simply because it is a requirement of doing business in the U.S.
Now if a person makes a legitimate mistake then they are not punished. If a company repeatedly hires ineligible workers then it can not be put down as a legitimate mistake. Or if the INS agent repeatedly knowingly allows immigrants to enter, be it for money or other ulterior motive, then of course that agent would be charged with a crime.
There still is a division within the ranks of banking. The heavy-hitter corporations like BofA could give a rat’s ass about the US economy except insofar as it affects a portion of their biz. They accept Mexican consular ID’s as sufficient for savings and checking accounts — and do everything they can do to aid the transfer of funds to Mexico. They advertise this service.
A number of other banks, especially local banks which stay in touch with the community where they do business refuse Mexican ID and check on the SS ID offered — to verify. Incidentally, there are service companies out there that will do that for any business.
The Feds could care less. It’s just another topic along the road to the North American Union.
9 Itâs just another topic along the road to the North American Union.
That’s one of the first things I thought about, as I read it.
And, I kept looking at that $20 bill, wondering what the significance of it was in this context – and then I spotted the “Twenty Pesos”. đ
oh please,
you all bitch that you want to do this and that to illegals but guess what. Illegals are only the practice round. don’t come crying when the governemnt starts creating a big brother society right under your nose
Economically, it’s a fairly shrewd move. I’m no economist, but I believe it’s actually a good thing to have a much cash as possible circulating, here or around the world. I know it’s a primary reason why the fed considers obsolete outstanding $20s and $100s as legal tender.
Back to the politics. I don’t care how many aliens we have in this country. But they do need to pay taxes, especially when they are using our services.
#4 – nothing prevents a debit card system now. Just send someone a debit card for your bank account. I’m actually using that system, but somewhat in reverse.
My sister married a Mexican and is now living in Chihuahua. She sent me a bank card from her bank there, and I use it to make payments up here in Canada for her Canadian bills (i.e. Visa).
N.B. : “Total amount of remittances to Latin America (in millions): $9,610”
Let’s see, that equates to $9.61 billion in TOTAL remittances for the year 2004. Let’s make it $10 billion just to round it off.
IT’S A DROP IN THE FUCKING BUCKET.
thank you
#3 – You are right. “We get labor and they get green pieces of paper which only have value as long as our economy doesnât collapse.” BUT, a big part of the reason that our economy doesn’t collapse is that we pay so little for our food products because so much of the labor behind harvesting those fruits and veggies is immigrant labor.
I say, once a person (legal or not) has done the work and earned the money, it is there money to do with as they want.
Also #3, as for “why should employers be in the business of checking out whether the person they want to hire is legal by government standards?” Easy. Do you want a pedophile to teach your children? How about a drug abuser driving your kids in the school bus? Or the pilot of your plane? Or maybe it is okay for McDonalds to let their employees go to the bathroom and then cook your hamburger, without washing their hands.
All of these are things that the government requires businesses to spend time and money on. Background checks for teachers and others who care for our children. Drug testing for people in positions that can cause harm to many people. Regulations for cleanliness in restaurants to fight against food contamination.
There are many things that businesses have to spend resources doing by law, that they would much rather NOT do. Yeah, no business wants to spend the few $$ it would take to actually verify if a social security card presented is real or not, or belongs to the person presenting it.
Of course, if businesses were required to pay all employees ON THE BOOKS and pay Social Security and Medicare taxes for their employees, then they wouldn’t be able to hire illegal immigrants. OOPS! They are required by law to do this!
(I know, some employers who hire illegal immigrants DO pay these things, even though they pay them into social security accounts that belong to other people or don’t actually exist. This just shows that the government should also do a better job verifying the money coming in on these accounts is correct. How easy it would be for the govt. to notify employers when the govt. sees money 5 or 10 employees all being paid into the same account.)
—————
JOHN (#5) – I did not say the association with the Heritage Foundation meant that this was all a pack of lies. What I said was that the Heritage Foundation is a neocon “think tank” – which they are (nobody with the Heritage foundation will dispute this fact) – and that they were one of the biggest proponents of the Iraq war – again, something which is indisputable.
By the way, the implication of your statement, “Because there is a vague association with the Heritage Foundation itâs all a pack of lies?” is that you think that the Heritage Foundation are a bunch of liars.
I’m glad that you added this idea to the discussion. Thanks!
People seem to forget what we have developed over the last couple years in finding terrorist in the US by tracking bank transactions and accounts. Hmm.. maybe this is the same kind of thing.
13 nothing prevents a debit card system now
True, if two conditions are met:
1. The person sending the money has opened an account.
2. The person receiving the money has easy access to an ATM.
So you would you rather send a check to el presidente, or have sergio mow my lawn and send the money home to his family so they can come here to.
Hasn’t anyone seen the 3rd season of The Wire? A cop creates areas where selling drugs is legal, and tells his lieutenants that it’s a tactic and he’ll round them up later. Well, this is another way to go after illegals. Between the fake Social Security nos and this system, it would be easy to round up millions of illegal immigrants in a few years. For all the talk of penalizing businesses, almost all businesses follow the law with regards to hiring illegals. If the guy gives you a social security card, but can’t speak English, you file the card and hire the guy, then it’s INS’s responsibility to deport him. The only businesses that are hard to get are the fornt companies that use independent contractors.
$10 Billion were sent in remittances…
wow… hold me back….
That’s like what… a couple of days of the expenditures in Iraq?
The current trade deficit is exceeding 700 Billion / year, and you are worried about 10 billion?
A well known and documented fact… elimination of low cost labor in the USA would be disastrous for the US economy, eliminating whatever little competitiveness is left. Costs for ‘unskilled labor’ currently provided by immigrants would rise tremendously, in the process causing an economic downward spiral that would affect every American in deep ways.
Many argue that the illegal immigrant population has severe economic costs for the US in terms of welfare, health costs, education costs, etc. Well… the reality is that even after those costs are taken into account the positive economic impact of illegal immigration in the USA is vastly higher than the negative impact.
$700 billion in trade deficit and you are complaining about a measly $10 billion that helps keep our southern neighbor politically stable… now that is what I call shortsighted.
#20 – Amen brother (or sister).
#20 lol
SNAP!
Please watch Aaron Russos documentary about the Federal Reserve for some insight to this question. Its excellent.
If you think that farm workers sending home a few bucks to their mamma’s is bad, then the billions we are send overseas for oil must be catastrophic.
Wait a minute… The U.S.A. has wealth? How can we have wealth when we are in debt?
Let’s take a further look: http://www.toptips.com/debtclock.html
John, you won’t find our wealth in the Federal Reserve Bank. However, you can find it in the labor and work that people create each day on this land.
>elimination of low cost labor in the USA would be disastrous
Oh my, we’re all doomed! What it really means is that the unskilled citizens who can’t find work will be able to find work. One reasdon welfare reform was so successful is because the late 90s tech economy sent the unemployment rate so low it overwhelmed the illegal immigrant population, and let more welfare workers get jobs, especially black workers.
>>However, you can find it in the labor and work that people create each day on this land.
I took Macroeconomics twenty years ago but I think you’re backed up by standard economic thinking.
Theoretically, the wages paid to those workers is less valuable than the actual work they do. So, the American economy has a net-gain, even if they send out 100% of their income, which, of course, they don’t do. But, obviously, it would be better for th economy if these workers spend 100% of their income in the USA.
Farm workers aren’t the only demographic more likely to send their money overseas and outside fo the economy — the wealthy are more likely to send their money offshore. This is a very good argument that Bush’s tax cuts should have been aimed at the middle class — who send very little of their money offshore — than to the upper class that do this.
sounds like voodoo economics to me
We need more Mexicans to contaminate our fruit and vegetable supply. What was that? It was the cows who did it? …my bad.
Awake wrote:
“Many argue that the illegal immigrant population has severe economic costs for the US in terms of welfare, health costs, education costs, etc. Well⌠the reality is that even after those costs are taken into account the positive economic impact of illegal immigration in the USA is vastly higher than the negative impact.”
I disagree.
Performing a Google search for âthe cost of illegal immigrationâ for more information brings up information that also disagrees with your statement. Results include items such as:
âHouseholds headed by illegal aliens imposed more than $26.3 billion in costs on the federal government in 2002 and paid only $16 billion in taxes, creating a net fiscal deficit of almost $10.4 billion, or $2,700 per illegal household.â
âIn Los Angeles, 95 percent of all outstanding warrants for homicide (which total 1,200 to 1,500) target illegal aliens. Up to two-thirds of all fugitive felony warrants (17,000) are for illegal aliens.â
Lets not delude ourselves into thinking that âillegalâ immigrants contribute more to America than they cost. People living near the border state may be bearing the brunt of the cost of illegal immigration today, but If steps are not taken to stem the tide of illegals streaming across the border we will all suffer the consequences.
If I am wrong in my assessment, educate me.
Steve