Post by sandsman1 on Oct 11, 2008 18:44:22 GMT -5
Illegal Immigration and the Mortgage Mess Michelle Malkin
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
The Mother of All Bailouts has many fathers. As panicked politicians
prepare to fork over $1 trillion in taxpayer funding to rescue the
financial industry, they've fingered regulation, deregulation, Fannie
Mae and Freddie Mac, the Community Reinvestment Act, Jimmy Carter, Bill
Clinton, both Bushes, greedy banks, greedy borrowers, greedy
short-sellers and minority home ownership mau-mauers (can't call 'em
greedy, that would be racist) for blame.
But there's one giant paternal elephant in the room that has slipped
notice: how illegal immigration, crime-enabling banks and open-borders
policies fueled the mortgage crisis.
It's no coincidence that most of the areas hardest hit by the
foreclosure wave -- Loudoun County, Va., California's Inland Empire,
Stockton and San Joaquin Valley, and Las Vegas and Phoenix, for starters
-- also happen to be some of the nation's largest illegal alien
sanctuaries. Half of the mortgages to Hispanics are subprime (the
accursed species of loan to borrowers with the shadiest credit
histories). A quarter of all those subprime loans are in default and
foreclosure.
Regional reports across the country have decried the subprime meltdown's
impact on illegal immigrant "victims." A July report showed that in
seven of the 10 metro areas with the highest foreclosure rates,
Hispanics represented at least one-third of the population; in two of
those areas -- Merced and Salinas-Monterey, Calif. -- Hispanics
comprised half the population. The amnesty-promoting National Council of
La Raza and its Development Fund have received millions in federal funds
to "counsel" their constituents on obtaining mortgages with little to no
money down; the group almost succeeded in attaching a $10-million
earmark for itself in one of the housing bills past this spring.
For the last five years, I've reported on the rapidly expanding illegal
alien home loan racket. The top banks clamoring for their handouts as
their profits plummet, led by Wachovia and Bank of America, launched
aggressive campaigns to woo illegal alien homebuyers. The
quasi-governmental Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority
jumped in to guarantee home loans to illegal immigrants. The Washington
Post noted, almost as an afterthought in a 2005 report: "Hispanics, the
nation's fastest-growing major ethnic or racial group, have been courted
aggressively by real estate agents, mortgage brokers and programs for
first-time buyers that offer help with closing costs. Ads proclaim: "Sin
verificacion de ingresos! Sin verificacion de documento!" -- which
loosely translates as, 'Income tax forms are not required, nor are
immigration papers.'"
In addition, fraudsters have engaged in massive house-flipping rings
using illegal aliens as straw buyers. Among many examples cited by the
FBI: a conspiracy in Las Vegas involving a former Nevada First
Residential Mortgage Company branch manager who directed loan officers
and processors in the origination of 233 fraudulent Federal Housing
Authority loans valued at over $25 million. . The defrauders
manufactured and submitted false employment and income documentation for
borrowers; most were illegal immigrants from Mexico. To date, the FBI
reported, "Fifty-eight loans with a total value of $6.2 million have
gone into default, with a loss to the Housing and Urban Development
Department of over $1.9 million."
/
It's the tip of the iceberg. Thanks to lax administration-approved
policies allowing illegal aliens to use "matricula consular cards" and
taxpayer identification numbers to open bank accounts, more forms of
mortgage fraud have burgeoned. Moneylenders still have no access to a
verification system to check Social Security numbers before approving
loans.
In an interview about rampant illegal alien home loan fraud, a
spokeswoman for the U.S. General Accounting Office told me five years
ago: "[C]onsidering the size of Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Houston
and other large cities throughout the United States known to be
inundated with illegal aliens, I don't think the federal government is
willing to expose this problem for financial reasons as well as for fear
of political repercussions."
The chickens are coming home to roost.
And law-abiding, responsible taxpayers are going to pay for it.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
The Mother of All Bailouts has many fathers. As panicked politicians
prepare to fork over $1 trillion in taxpayer funding to rescue the
financial industry, they've fingered regulation, deregulation, Fannie
Mae and Freddie Mac, the Community Reinvestment Act, Jimmy Carter, Bill
Clinton, both Bushes, greedy banks, greedy borrowers, greedy
short-sellers and minority home ownership mau-mauers (can't call 'em
greedy, that would be racist) for blame.
But there's one giant paternal elephant in the room that has slipped
notice: how illegal immigration, crime-enabling banks and open-borders
policies fueled the mortgage crisis.
It's no coincidence that most of the areas hardest hit by the
foreclosure wave -- Loudoun County, Va., California's Inland Empire,
Stockton and San Joaquin Valley, and Las Vegas and Phoenix, for starters
-- also happen to be some of the nation's largest illegal alien
sanctuaries. Half of the mortgages to Hispanics are subprime (the
accursed species of loan to borrowers with the shadiest credit
histories). A quarter of all those subprime loans are in default and
foreclosure.
Regional reports across the country have decried the subprime meltdown's
impact on illegal immigrant "victims." A July report showed that in
seven of the 10 metro areas with the highest foreclosure rates,
Hispanics represented at least one-third of the population; in two of
those areas -- Merced and Salinas-Monterey, Calif. -- Hispanics
comprised half the population. The amnesty-promoting National Council of
La Raza and its Development Fund have received millions in federal funds
to "counsel" their constituents on obtaining mortgages with little to no
money down; the group almost succeeded in attaching a $10-million
earmark for itself in one of the housing bills past this spring.
For the last five years, I've reported on the rapidly expanding illegal
alien home loan racket. The top banks clamoring for their handouts as
their profits plummet, led by Wachovia and Bank of America, launched
aggressive campaigns to woo illegal alien homebuyers. The
quasi-governmental Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority
jumped in to guarantee home loans to illegal immigrants. The Washington
Post noted, almost as an afterthought in a 2005 report: "Hispanics, the
nation's fastest-growing major ethnic or racial group, have been courted
aggressively by real estate agents, mortgage brokers and programs for
first-time buyers that offer help with closing costs. Ads proclaim: "Sin
verificacion de ingresos! Sin verificacion de documento!" -- which
loosely translates as, 'Income tax forms are not required, nor are
immigration papers.'"
In addition, fraudsters have engaged in massive house-flipping rings
using illegal aliens as straw buyers. Among many examples cited by the
FBI: a conspiracy in Las Vegas involving a former Nevada First
Residential Mortgage Company branch manager who directed loan officers
and processors in the origination of 233 fraudulent Federal Housing
Authority loans valued at over $25 million. . The defrauders
manufactured and submitted false employment and income documentation for
borrowers; most were illegal immigrants from Mexico. To date, the FBI
reported, "Fifty-eight loans with a total value of $6.2 million have
gone into default, with a loss to the Housing and Urban Development
Department of over $1.9 million."
/
It's the tip of the iceberg. Thanks to lax administration-approved
policies allowing illegal aliens to use "matricula consular cards" and
taxpayer identification numbers to open bank accounts, more forms of
mortgage fraud have burgeoned. Moneylenders still have no access to a
verification system to check Social Security numbers before approving
loans.
In an interview about rampant illegal alien home loan fraud, a
spokeswoman for the U.S. General Accounting Office told me five years
ago: "[C]onsidering the size of Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Houston
and other large cities throughout the United States known to be
inundated with illegal aliens, I don't think the federal government is
willing to expose this problem for financial reasons as well as for fear
of political repercussions."
The chickens are coming home to roost.
And law-abiding, responsible taxpayers are going to pay for it.