July 16, 2007

Bank of "America" signs up customers at Dallas Mexican consulate

The article "Mexican consul's biggest challenge is immigration" by Dianne Solis of the Dallas Morning News isn't as bad as other articles about a paper's local Mexican consul, but, as with the others, it avoids asking the tough questions, and it gives the consul an opportunity to make questionable statements unopposed. And, there's this:

The fastest-moving product [at the consulate] is the $37 matricula consular, a Mexican identification card, given at a clip of about 1,300 per week. But there are also birth and death certificates to issue. There are kiosks to spread the word on medical plans; videos that explain U.S. laws to lobby audiences; and a platoon of bilingual Bank of America workers who greet prospective customers in need of a special account to send money back to the homeland.

I'm currently trying to determine the exact relationship between the consulate and Bank of America; I'll update when I find out whether they have a satellite branch there or whether another branch sends their employers to go hang out in the lobby. In any case it helps show that money lies at the root of illegal immigration, and just how our system has been corrupted. Without the massive corruption of the Bush administration, banks would not be able to take those Matricula Consular cards, and BofA probably wouldn't be there.

The head of the outpost is Enrique Hubbard Urrea:

His father was fond of joking that the Hubbard surname was Aztec "for son of an Englishman," laughs Mr. Hubbard [editor's note: ho ho ho ho ho!]... Mr. Hubbard even personally answers e-mail from angry Texans... "Once in a while there is someone I can really get a dialogue with," Mr. Hubbard says. "But most are not interested in a dialogue. They just want to scream, yell and vent their hate. There is no other way to describe it."

I'm sure he's telling the truth! There's very little chance he could simply be trying to portray patriotic Texans who oppose an aggressive foreign government's attempts to profit from illegal activity as racist yahoos. Dianne Solis was right not to call him on that.

Posted to Immigration_consul at July 16, 2007 01:26 PM