Illegal immigrants a factor in mortgage crisis, activist claims
Chad Groening
OneNewsNow
9/30/2008 4:00:00 AM
An immigration reform activist says there's absolutely no reason that American taxpayers should bail out illegal immigranats who should not have been in country in the first place, but were among those given risky loans that have created the mortgage crisis.
In a recent column, Michelle Malkin points out that some of the hardest hit areas by the foreclosure wave — including Phoenix, Las Vegas, and large swaths of California — also happen to be some of the nation's largest sanctuary areas. She argues that lending institutions like Bank of America have gone out of their way to woo homebuyers who are in the country illegally.
Malkin also notes the mortgage fraud problem has been exacerbated by banks allowing illegal aliens to use Matricula Consular and taxpayer identification cards to open accounts. Rick Oltman, a spokesman for Californians for Population Stabilization, says taxpayers should not be forced to bail out individuals who are illegal aliens.
“They shouldn't have been here in the first place. It isn't a question about whether low-income people shouldn't also have a right at the 'American dream' and own a home,” Oltman explains. “This is a question about people who shouldn't be here in the first place adding to this particular problem, fueling the inflation in housing and the speculative bubble, and now being caught up in all of these bad mortgages, and have helped to crash the system. No, the illegal aliens should not be bailed out.”
Oltman says overzealous individuals in the government coerced banks into making bad loans — including to illegal immigrants.
