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Posted on 12/20/2001 8:52:21 PM PST by Joe Hadenuf

Illegal immigrants might not qualify for a Social Security card or a driver's license, but they can now open a checking account in Houston.

MetroBank, a local institution that targets Asian and Hispanic immigrants, announced Thursday that it will allow Mexicans to open accounts by using an identification card issued by the Mexican Consulate, known as a matricula.

The immigrants are not required to have any document issued by the United States government, such as a visa, a Social Security card or a taxpayer identification number.

While banks in other parts of the nation have already announced similar programs targeting illegal immigrants, MetroBank appears to be the only institution that will rely solely on the foreign card as sufficient proof of identification.

Mexican Consul General Enrique Buj Flores called the new banking program "an important step," because it will free many of the 500,000 Mexican citizens in Houston from carrying large wads of cash and facilitate the process of sending money to family back in Mexico.

"In this country, the people who don't qualify for credit, who don't have a checking account, are at a clear disadvantage," Buj Flores said at a press conference.

The consul general noted the bank account might be the first step toward getting a credit card and the "American dream" of a home loan.

But conservatives had a very different reaction to the announcement.

"I find it shocking after Sept. 11 that a bank would allow people in the country illegally to ship money around the world," said Dan Stein, the head of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a Washington group that favors tighter enforcement of the borders.

MetroBank chairman and founder Don Wang, a native of Taiwan, portrayed the program as a service making it easier for newcomers to fit in.

"Over 30 years ago, when I came to the United States, I (didn't) know how to open a bank account," Wang said, adding: "We know the newcomers from Mexico might have the same problem."

The idea went over well with a group of five Mexican illegal immigrants found on a street corner in the Heights on Thursday.

"You mean you don't need to have a Social Security number?" asked one, somewhat incredulously. All five of the immigrants said they would get a bank account.

"For us, it's security," said one of the five, who identified himself as Juan Escobedo. "We generally keep our cash in our apartments, which is bad because the owners have keys and sometimes they enter and steal it."

Undocumented immigrants who are paid by check generally have no choice but to cash them at changing houses that proliferate in areas such as the East End and Gulfton. The changing houses sometimes charge high fees. The immigrants also use exchange companies to send money home.

MetroBank will give each account holder two ATM cards, so that they can give one to relatives in Mexico to withdraw cash there. The bank said the clients do not need a Social Security number because the checking account does not generate interest.

The idea of providing bank accounts to illegal immigrants surfaced in Austin, after three Mexican workers were killed there last year. All three had been carrying large amounts of cash, which prompted local police to search for ways to help immigrants store their money more safely.

Early this year, the Mexican Consulate and Wells Fargo Bank in Austin announced a plan to accept the matricula as documentation.

Last month, Wells Fargo expanded the program to all 23 states where its banks are found. But Wells Fargo encourages Mexicans to show up with a Social Security card or a taxpayer identification number issued by the Internal Revenue Service in addition to the matricula, according to Kathryn Butcher, a Wells Fargo spokeswoman.

Illegal immigrants generally can get a taxpayer identification number, though not a Social Security card.

Buj Flores spearheaded the effort to get the matricula accepted by MetroBank.

The consul general is also working with Houston Police Chief C.O. Bradford to have local officers recognize the matricula as official identification.

"The police will be able to see that these people are Mexicans, they are not terrorists and they are not disguised criminals," he said in an interview.

A Houston Police spokesman confirmed that the chief is reviewing the proposal to recognize the matricula as identification.

Police in San Francisco and Orange County, Calif., already recognize the matricula. However, the recent announcement in Orange County led to a heated protest from conservatives who believe that illegal immigrants should be sent home instead of being officially recognized.

To obtain the matricula, a Mexican must appear at the local consulate with a Mexican birth certificate, a passport, a voter registration card or other official identification. A certificate of baptism will be accepted, but only if another family member is present to verify the identification.

Buj Flores said 123,000 Mexicans in Greater Houston have already obtained the matricula.

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