You may have heard or seen some press about a financial institution or institutions in AZ offering a special savings account for undocumented immigrants. It's not true. Let me just be clear on that one more time.
It's. Not. True.
The institution I work for doesn't offer any such product, nor does any other institution in the state. To do so would not only be unethical, but highly illegal and very much outside of CUNA regulations. What we are focusing a portion of our advertising on right now is a segment of the people out there that are undocumented workers (not immigrants as they don't live here) that have what's called a Matricula Consular. Basically it's a fancy right-to-work permit in the states, issued by the Mexican Consulate and commonly accepted for proof of identification for establishing new accounts at federally insured institutions. That, a taxpayer ID, and a little bit of money gets you an account where I work as well as any other major bank or credit union in the state. The reason they can access these accounts from Mexico is because THEY LIVE THERE AND THEY HAVE A DEBIT CARD!!! Duh!
The problem is that I'm using logic and rational thought right now. The press doesn't do so well with that and cares far more about spin than fact. People both locally and nationally have gone out of their mind over this with both immigration and right to privacy vs. terrorism debates being hot topics right now. At first folks just used nasty words. Then it escalated to violent threats. Over the weekend one commonly used banking facility was lightly vandalized in protest (no permanent damage or defacement). Employees are leaving where they work.
One misheard/misunderstood word irresponsibly reported in a regional publication turned into national backlash. And I get to watch it all happen up close and personal.
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