Fed-up teller quits bank over Mexican IDs
A personal banker in Arlington, Va., is quitting his job after Chevy Chase Bank, one of the largest and best-known banks in the Washington, D.C., region announced it will begin accepting consular cards from customers who many suspect are illegal aliens.
The bank announced its "Hispanic Banking Initiative" during a pilot program and is now accepting Matricula Consular de Alta Seguridads, or MCAS, at all of its branches so customers without U.S. government IDs may open accounts. The MCAS is an identification card issued to foreign nationals living in the U.S. by the Mexican government via their 47 consulates. The National Council of La Raza estimates that
more than 350 financial institutions currently accept them. Customers with the IDs – including illegal aliens – are able to open checking and savings accounts, order check cards, safe deposit boxes, cashier's checks and wire billions of dollars to Mexico. "I was becoming stressed out at work because I just knew in my heart that if someone came to me with this card I couldn't just compromise my principles and open an account for them," Chevy Chase personal banker Albert Thompson told WND.
The U.S. banking system relies on Social Security numbers to track accounts, verify identity and report taxable earnings to the government. "Accepting the Matricula skirts that issue," Bankers Online reports. "Many Mexicans who work in the United States do so in order to send money back to their homes in Mexico. FDIC says about $18 billion is wired annually from the U.S. to Mexico. Many U.S. banks have welcomed the IDs as a way to get a cut of this activity by profiting from the handling charges on the wires and increased deposits."
