Intuitively obvious - hmmm. As a Canadian resident, do you have any personal experience living among illegal immigrants in the USA and the effects these people have on the lives of US residents? Since you admit that you don't have the numbers, maybe you have the personal experience?
1. I agree - they are extremely hardworking and motivated lawbreakers. There is no denying that they broke US immigration laws and jumped ahead of the millions of legal immigrant applicants who have to wait years for their chance to come to the US. 2. I agree- but these are descendants of LEGAL immigrants. Meaning they went through the legal process. And please do not raise the race card regarding this issue. The US still has the most lenient immigration laws in the world and allows millions of people into the country regardless of race, color, sex, or religion. In fact, the greatest number of legal immigrants in this country are Hispanics. 3. I would rather pay more for my strawberries and restaurant meals than subsidize the education and medical bills of illegal immigrants. Not to mention the cost of incarcerating illegal immigrant criminals. 4. Cheap labor comes at the expense of providing free education to the children of these illegal immigrants and free medical care to the illegal immigrants and their families. This makes the term "cheap labor" a paradox. I personally feel we should do away with these and pay just wages to local born or legal residents. The issue is not about race or the industriousness of the illegal immigrants - it is about following and respecting the laws of this country.
What this whole immigration debate exposes is that, under capitalism, even the laws are secondary to the overarching goal of accumulating ever more money. This is why the Bush administration is turning a blind eye to the illegal aliens living in the US, even as a large percentage of their own party clamors for a crackdown. The Republicans are courting the Hispanic vote bigtime. George W. speaks fluent Spanish, and he uses it to give speeches anytime he's in Florida or Texas or California. Mel Martinez (R-FL) is one of the most conservative Senators ever. Alberto Gonzales, one of the most conservative Attorneys General ever, is descended from illegal immigrants. The illegals can't vote, but their kids born in the US can, and they'll be of voting age soon. It's a long term plan. (And don't forget that any Cuban who sets foot on American soil gets automatic and perfectly legal asylum.) Sure, they pay lip service to nationalism and immigration law enforcement on TV sometimes, to appease the nationalist elements of the party, and then they ignore it in practice (apart from a few token efforts here and there) in favor of the Allmighty Dollar. Our entire economy is based in large part upon illegal sub-minimum wage labor. They know it, and they're perfectly fine with that, because it's more profitable. This is why no government agency will even dream of interfering with BoA's plan -- more credit means more spending means more profits. Is BoA encouraging and abetting the breaking of the law? Yes, they absolutely are. Will the Bush administration do anything about it? Nope, because pushing for hard enforcement of this particular law would be counterproductive to the accumulation of money. BoA is fully aware of all this, and thus they feel confident in their plan. It makes great sense as a business move to capitalize on this underserved market segment.
Congrats. Nevertheless you could be deported at any moment without much hassle. Again, I was looking at the business side of this question, not the political issues. To give CCs to illegal immigrants is equivalent to give CC to a citizen who writes this at the end of his application: " By the way I have been cheating on my taxes and the IRS has been looking for me." That person just informed the bank, that beside his credit rating he is a higher risk then Average Joe with the same credit score...
Getting a $500 CC with the partially secured cards being offered is no favor. Its done for the same reason as identity theft is the banking industrys best friend. Once its done your credit is trashed for seven years and the only way to undo it is to sue your way out of that mess. Why doesnt BOA offer loans for the purchase of cocaine or the services of a prostitute? Are those two acts lesser crimes than sneaking into the USA clinging to the bottom of a truck? BOA is creating a credit challenged sector while charging them usurious rates and fees.
You know how many times I was turned down for a credit card when I first started applying....Today they hand them out to anyone....