Comments Needed to Treasury Dept by 7/31/03 to Help Immigrants

Folks this is very easy to do. Takes about two minutes and is urgent to help immigrants safety by allowing them to keep bank accounts. It's a long message (below) but basically you just have to fill out a form and say
"NO" to changes in the current identification rules
http://regcomments.treasury.gov
IDENTIFICATION
Vote "No"
And you must write in a comment in the field. It doesn't have to be as long as the one provided below. I just used the first paragraph
"I am writing to oppose any change to the Section 326 customer identification rules, and I support allowing financial institutions to use certain types of foreign government-issued identification, such as the matricula consular, to open bank accounts for immigrants."

Please take action before 7/31/03
thanks

Sonia
----------------------------

URGENT: COMMENTS NEEDED BY JULY 31, 2003
BANK ACCEPTANCE OF MATRICULA CONSULAR IS IN JEOPARDY
YOU CAN EASILY SUBMIT COMMENTS BY VOTING NO TO A
QUESTION ON THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT WEBSITE

Bank acceptance of consular identification cards like
the matricula consular is in jeopardy. Only a few
months ago the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued
final regulations regarding section 326 of the USA
PATRIOT ACT. Those regulations allowed banks and other
financial institutions to decide what documents they
would accept as proof of identity before opening a
bank account. This was an important breakthrough for
non-citizens whose only form of identification was a
consular identification card such as the matricula
consular.

An anti-immigrant Congressman who is opposed to bank
acceptance of the matricula consular pressured the
Treasury Department to re-open the issue. On July 1,
the Treasury Department -- in a very unusual move --
asked for additional comments about the final rule.
COMMENTS MUST BE SUBMITTED BY JULY 31, 2003.

You can easily express your opposition to a change in
the rules by voting on the Treasury Department
website. Go to
http://regcomments.treasury.gov.

You must click on the section marked IDENTIFICATION.
That will take you to a page where you first fill in
your personal identification information. You may then
vote whether you believe "the terms and conditions of
the final section 326 regulation relating to financial
institutions' ability to rely on foreign-issued
identification be changed?" A "NO" VOTE MEANS THAT
YOU BELIEVE BANKS SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO ACCEPT CONSULAR
IDENTIFICATION DOCUMENTS SUCH AS THE MATRICULA
CONSULAR AS IDENTIFICATION.

NUMBERS COUNT. AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE SHOULD VOTE
"NO" TO A CHANGE IN THE RULES, SO PLEASE PASS THIS
ALONG AS WIDELY AS POSSIBLE. YOU MAY VOTE AS AN
INDIVIDUAL OR AS A MEMBER OF AN ORGANIZATION.

YOU MUST ALSO ADD COMMENTS IN THE BOX BELOW THE VOTING
SECTION. The following is a sample comment which you
may revise or copy and paste into the Treasury
Department comment page.

"I am writing to oppose any change to the Section 326
customer identification rules, and I support allowing
financial institutions to use certain types of foreign
government-issued identification, such as the
matricula consular, to open bank accounts for
immigrants. Many banks and a number of credit unions
across the nation now accept foreign government-issued
identification such as the matricula consular to open
bank accounts and provide lower cost remittance
services for immigrants.
Bank accounts help consumers build assets and avoid
high cost financial services, such as check cashers,
payday lenders, couriers, money transmitters, and the
like. This has enabled banks to develop
lower-cost international money transmission methods.
In addition, the competition introduced by financial
institutions in the money transmission industry has
forced traditional money transmission services
to lower their charges.

Enabling immigrants to open bank accounts also serves
law enforcement purposes. First, it helps deter
robberies and assaults against law-abiding immigrants.
Immigrants often become the target of robbery because
they are known to carry large amounts of cash on
payday.
Second, the acceptance of alternative identification
helps law enforcement combat money laundering and
terrorism. Banks and thrifts, in comparison to other
financial providers, are subject to federal
regulation, routine examinations, and more extensive
record keeping and reporting requirements. This
enhances the ability of federal officials
to monitor international money transmissions and
distinguish legitimate transfers from those conducted
for money laundering or terrorist financing purposes.

Denying hardworking taxpayers access to bank accounts
will not make us safer as a country. It would be a
flawed and ineffective means of combating terrorism
and regulating our nation's immigration policies."

You may also add a comment as a separate attachment to
the Treasury Department comment page. You may also
submit comments by sending an email to
identification@regcomments.treasury.gov with the
caption in the body of the text "Section 326 Notice of
Inquiry: Identification" or by mail to:
326 Identification Comments,
U.S. Department of the Treasury,
Office of the General Counsel,
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue NW,
Washington, DC 20220-0002.

PLEASE SEND AN EMAIL WITH YOUR FULL CONTACT
INFORMATION TO
mitchell@nilc-dc.org
(TO ADVISE US THAT YOU HAVE VOTED AND SUBMITTED
COMMENTS).

For more information, contact:

Joan Friedland
National Immigration Law Center
202-216-0261

Chi Chi Wu
National Consumer Law Center
617-542-8010

Brenda Muniz
National Council of La Raza
202-776-1570

Marielena Hincapié, Staff Attorney
National Immigration Law Center
405 14th Street, Suite 1400
Oakland, CA 94612

(510) 663-8282 ext. 305
(510) 663-2028 (fax)
hincapie@nilc.org
www.nilc.org


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3726 Pacific Ave.
Olympia, Wa 98506

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