Reminds me a lot of the "English-only" movement of the 90s. Reactionaries got all happy on not making English the "Official" language of whatever was worrying their poor right-wing hearts, and then one day I walked up to an ATM and noticed that it was in no less than 7 languages. Corporate America will always betray the conservatives for a buck.

Banks are a business. They can do business with whoever they want to. You want to be a liberal and pass laws to regulate banks? Go right ahead.

This is what happens when the free market rules.

Citibank is out to do this so that they can make more money. Get it?

No Bruce I'm against banks supporting criminal activity and helping criminals buy a part of my country. Maybe you don't see them as criminals, but they are by law.

Or should we just deregulate banks altogether and allow them to openly support terrorists and drug dealers as well?

Hell, maybe we should supply the terrorists and drug dealers with taxpayer funded subsidies like ACORN is doing above.

There's good regulation and bad.

Its not all win win, Digger.

If an illegal alien, that has saved money, in OUR banks, has earned it HERE, has paid taxes on ALL of it, has been a contributor to this country.

If they were to be deported, they could loose ALL of it. Their Money, their house, and all their hard work.

Im a single middle class imigrant. My parents and I arrived here 25 years ago, My parents just finished paying off their house, I just bought my first 3 years ago.

According to you, "To the millions of Americans who cannot afford a home this is simply indefensible." Maybe if they would get off their asses and do some of those jobs "americans don't do"

Im no better than them, yet I put my ass to the stone to support my family. Dont penalize imigrants because the american culture has degenarated to lazy ass soap opera, reality tv, welfare addicts.

You want a house, work for it.

I'm not going to defend lazy citizens, that's not even the point being made.

Your mixing of the terms immigrant and illegal alien are deceiving. There are legal immigrants and illegal immigrants. Illegal ones shouldn't be here.

I would venture to guess that the majority of illegal aliens don't pay taxes as you seem to imply above. The industries that are sustaining them are low wage, under the table jobs. This takes away from the tax base in two ways: Income tax from the worker and payroll tax from the employer.

So, while people save a nickel on lettuce, the taxes needed to support the increased services -- like education, increased traffic, health care for the uninsured by way of emergency rooms -- is way more than that.

I have no sympathy for someone who snuck into this country, broke our laws, thumbed their nose at those who do it legally and then expects to receive all the benefits of living in this country. When they get caught 5-10 years later then they cry that they're going to lose it all. Well they should have thought of the potential consequences of that ahead of time.

Now I'm going to use a hypothetical here. If someone murders someone and gets away with it for 10 years, should they then get the benefit of the doubt when they get caught even though they had a job all the while and contributed to society? No. Breaking a law is breaking a law and people should face the consequences, whether it's murder or coming here illegally.

While you see illegal aliens as contributors I see them as lawbreakers and there's many in-depth studies that show the cost-benefit of illegal aliens. You can find some on this site, just search. But to help you out here's a few to start:

"California's Illegal Aliens Cost Taxpayers Nearly $9 Billion A Year"

"Arizona Sends Feds Bill For $118 Million To Cover Illegal Aliens Jail Costs"

"Illegal Aliens Cost Texas Taxpayers $4.7 Billion a Year"

"Educating Children Of Illegal Aliens Costs $28.6 Billion Per Year"

"Giving Illegal Aliens In-State Tuition Carries An Estimated Cost To Taxpayers Of $756 Million Per Year"

There's also numerous articles on hospital emergency rooms being forced to close due to illegal aliens running up costs because of federal mandate that anyone must be treated at an ER, but then not having the means or will to pay for it because they have no insurance.

And of course you can find information on all kinds of illegal aliens who have killed legal citizens and residents of this country who were contributing to the tax base and to the country. How many trillions were lost due to that over the years? You can argue that those here legally who murder do the same thing, but the difference is that if those here illegally weren't here in the first place it wouldn't have happened.

Read around, your view of illegal aliens seems to be rather narrow to what you have seen, but when looking at the overall impact of illegal aliens -- and studying the issue from a logical rather than emotional position -- there is no doubt that illegal aliens cost more and cause more trouble than they are worth.

You can't blame Citi or the illegals Digger. There is a market, so why shouldn't citi fill it? Aliens who work hard should be able to borrow money - they do need places to live. And they are here due to a demand for cheap labor, labor that many Americans will not do. If you have a problem with illegal aliens, then have your government actually regulate business. All this talk about borders is simply to satisfy the ignorant and fearful haters of "others" without addressing the real issue, which is allowing business, often big business, to profit off of illegal labor directly or indirectly. If you want American Jobs saved, vote for people who actually will regulate business, including employment practices.
Our whole agricultural business is dependant on illegal labor, so i hope you are willing to pay more for produce.
Every big business also makes money off of illegal alien labor by hiring independent contractors to clean their facilities. They have no current obligations to check that the firms they hire do not emply illegals.
Every american family that can afford it is benefitted by having house help they can pay less than minimum wage to, and no social security either.
So blame who is worthy - the rich, and their businesses who profit so much off of illegal labor. until you ar willing to regulate the marketplace in a substantive manner, your arguments just make you sound like a bigot.

Why does Digger hate American business? Is he a Communist, or a just a liberal?

Digger: "There's good regulation and bad."

Ah, spoken like a true big government liberal. You just want the government to be big when it helps out your causes. You just want the government to regulate when it promotes your beliefs. Isn't it wonderful how some folks betray their core ideas when it's convenient?

Yes, it sure is wonderful how some folks betray their core values.

So tell me, Bruce, how many letters have you written to Bush, to demand he audit Halliburton?

I imagine the fact that they have $8.8 BILLION in taxpayer funds that are unaccounted for, while our soldiers lack armor and their benefits keep being slashed, has you all riled up.

Am I right?

Bruce, good regulation is enforcing our laws. I guess you seem to think that laws should just be overlooked whenever business is involved

lazerlou, I agree that businesses need to be strung up for this practice and have written about it extensively.

cdunlea, I don't hate business I'm an entrepreneur for Pete's sake, just have a read of my bio. What I hate is businesses who are getting an unfair advantage over those who are doing it by the book and not hiring illegal aliens.

There's nothing racial about it. I don't care if the person is from Russia, Africa, Italy or Mexico. They're here illegally and businesses in this country should not be allowed to support them or make a profit off of them. They make a profit while you and me foot the bill for all the increases in services and have to deal with the problems they bring such as: drugs, overcrowding, traffic, class sizes (my kids class was 40 kids in 3rd grade in California, imagine trying to teach and learn in that environment), emergency services, diseases that have been virtually eradicated being on the rise, gangs like MS-13, crime etc etc...

I'm not willing to sit back and accept this so some business can make a buck, while our society pays the price.

And before someone brings up the "you'll pay more for oranges" argument, I'm willing to pay more, the tax cuts that could be made would far outweigh the price increases.

We need to control immigration so that our services are not overrun as they have been. We need an orderly flow and it starts with cracking down on illegal immigration so that we can ensure immigration is a positive thing and not a destructive one.

I'm not anti-immigrant, I'm anti-illegal.

I did a review of a number of news articles and compiled a list of firms which we should boycott. It would be nice if someone could maintain this list and add to it as necessary. These firms shut down their facilities on May 1st because of one or more of the following:

1) they hire a large number of illegal aliens

2) they hire a large number of illegal alien supporters

3) they are in "solidarity" with illegal aliens

The list follows:

Cargill Meat Solutions (beef/turkey/pork, Angus Pride, Shady Brook Farms, Excel, Sterling Silver, HoneySuckle White, Taylor Beef, Prairie Grove Farms, Tender Choice)

Custom Rubber Products, North Houston, TX

Gallo (Wines – lots of brands found here http://jobs.gallo.com/Portfolio/TableWines.asp and Indigo Hills Blanc de Blancs, Tott's, Ballatore Spumante, André, and E&J VS Brandy, E&J VSOP Brandy, E&J Cognac, E&J Cask & Cream, Cask & Cream Chocolate Temptation, Cask & Cream Caramel Temptation)

Goya Foods (http://www.goya.com/english/products.html)

Hispanic Employment and Labor Pool, Inc. (HELP), Birmingham, Alabama (helpinc@charter.net)

McDonald's restaurants

Mike & Travis Collins Vidalia onions, Collins, GA

Old Ebbitt Grill restaurant, Washington, DC

Perdue Farms (chicken, http://www.perdue.com/products/index.html)

Ritmo Latino music stores

Salsbery Brothers Landscaping, Carmel, Indiana

Seaboard Corp. (also PrairieFresh and Daily’s, pork products)

ServiceMaster Landscaping

Swift foods (also Rica Foods, beef and pork)

Tyson Foods (chicken, beef, & pork products, also Crustano's Sandwich Crafters, Orville and Wilbur's, Sunset Strips, K-12 Sunset Strips, Ancho Grill, Pickens'Fried Chicken, Bonici Brothers)

Wells Fargo (didn't shut down to my knowledge, but they give loans to illegal aliens)

Citibank (didn't shut down to my knowledge, but they give loans to illegal aliens)

Please folks do not discuss about this situation

All you have to do is:

Do your best effort to make this world much better, because we never know when something bad can happen to every one of us.

God bless you guys...

Here's one for you all to read. We have worked for over 40 years to have the home we have now. It is in a nice community and everyone has a little land. The house next door went up for sale and 15 people moved in from south america. There are NINE cars in the drive and all over the lawn. They cut down trees between our houses and just left them laying there. They throw trash over the hill so they don't see it but we do. Is there any wonder why we Americans hate the influx of so many people from other cultures? There are so many spanish that they are taking away our American way of life and just pushed down the price of my home by at least $100,000 not to mention the mess I have to look at. My husband and I are both handicapped but get out there and maintain our property and they don't even cut the grass.....so I guess parking on it will take care of that. I'm sick over this. They need to speak ENGLISH and the powers that be should regulate how many people live in one house. One of our neighbors called but nothing was done.

Why does this not surprise me. Let's look at how business has been pandering the illegal's:
>Press 1 for English
>Employment: Bilingual required (Mexican)
>Government: Spanish or English version
Government: ESL maditory...to hell with the Englihs speaking students...they have "white power" they don't need aditional help.
Government: Look the other way: illegal's and crime, illegal's and gangs...
>Government: Social Security benefits for illegal's
>Government: Free Health Care for illegal's
>Business: We speak Espanole
>Govermnet: Hospitals must care for illegal's
>Government: Get across our border, have a child and they are U.S Citizens...so can you be.
>Business: Mexican's: Cheap labor...bigger PROFITS!
>Government: Look the other way when business's hire illegal Mexicans
>Bleeding Heart Liberals: Oh, those poor people, as they drain social services, change cultural norms, God forbid...oh yeah, there is no God, we don't pander the Mexican's
Illegal (and legal) Mexican Stance
>WE are ENTITLED
>We SHALL overcome
>All White's are racist
>It's okay for me to break the law (be here illegally), but you have to protect my RIGHTS (that I'm not really entitled to...oh yeah, I am because I am here)...you cannot break the law, you cannot protest my being here, you cannot disrespect me or my culture (it's okay for me to disrespect you and yours), and you better learn Mexican, because that is all I'm going to speak.

Immigration is a wonder thing; it allows people to SHARE cultures, it allows understanding of other people and their plight. But, illegal immigration, as is going on now, is an insult to those that got here legally, and is a massive drain on society.

Close the borders, deport all illegal Mexican's, fine Mexico for supporting the massive illegal immigration they condone, and close down and seize assests of ALL U.S. businesses that hire illegal Mexican's...there is NO excuse!!

If everybody went back to where they came from, there woulnt be eny anglos in america. All this clowns that claim to be the rightfull owners of this country should read their history books to see how it was taken from mexico....thiefs!!! and you dare call me illegal allien!! perhaps you should go back to europe, you are the alliens. so get.

While you people are up in arms, I recently looked into buying land in Mexico, and did you know that it is easier for an American to buy land there in Mexico than it is for it's own Nationals? We argue over this issue...and we as Americans never think TWICE about our own "deserters" that have moved to Mexico. The American population in Acapulco alone is in the 100,000's yet WE don't hear Mexico screaming about them...do we? Do they yell about our dead beat parents and other criminals that flood their country. I might also mention, that if your into religion...that just arguing about the outsiders and not helping them is against God's word... So, all you haters..quit hating. Everyone is up in arms, and most of the jobs that illegals do....you wouldn't do anyway...and I know cause I've worked beside them in the fields...it's wet nasty exhausting work...for no money...but if they weren't there...then your food wouldn't be at the stores either....you got to give them some credit. My one friend worked in the strawberries for 7...count them 7 years and in that whole time he received a 50 cent increase...50 cents in seven years...and he was expected to be on call 24/7. I saw him and his friends up at 2 in the morning turning on water so the crops wouldn't freeze...So folks, you like your warm beds...you like the convenience of food at the stores...then stop the complaining cause you know you wouldn't do the job anyway.

This isn't the free market. This is the government forcing illegal immigration down our throats. This is the government forcing banks to make loans to disparate minorites so that they meet the quotas set by HUD. That's why ACORN, and banks are forced to help to make sure that these minorities don't go under. Especially if they are here illegally.

Without borders-language and culture, the free market can still thrive as it has done under communist china. But how many of us want America to drip down to the level of Mexico?

That's what will happen without strong border and language laws.

I AM A MEXICAN AMERICAN, MY PARENTS ARE MEXICAN, ALL I CAN SAY IS IF YOU WANT A HOME WORK FOR IT. WE DO. JUST WORK AND STOP HOLDING THOSE SIGNS. IN THE STREETS AMERICAN THAT HAVE LIVED HERE FOR YEARS, AND THERE ARE HOLDING THESE SIGNS, YOU DODN'T SEE MEXICANS OR ANY OTHER RACES NOT FROM THIS COUNTY DO THAT. GET MOVING......

Nope, didn't see the millions of illegals marching through the streets a few years back. No siree, they were all too busy working.

As for the Americans holding signs and protesting... many of them take off work or time on their weekends to try and save their country in addition to working hard all week.

So take your anti-American "Americans are lazy" remarks and shove em. Your comment that you are a "Mexican American" is quite telling. You don't consider yourself an American first because for some reason you are ashamed of this country that has given you more opportunity than you'll ever know. Ungrateful is the word for it.