Mortgage & Loan: The Housing-Identity Theft Connection

An interesting article from the L.A. Times details how the sudden anti-immigration movement is hurting the Latino home buyer demand. What the article doesn't say, of course, is that much of this sudden strength in Hispanic home buying comes from predatory lending and extremely weakened credit standards.

Not only that, but illegal immigration has been a tremendous salve to the home building industry. Where else are you going to find a huge pool of cheap labor that works for peas and doesn't ask questions?

Of course, to get these folks jobs, they need IDs. And in the classic American entrepreneurial spirit, there is a cottage industry of ID theft surrounding the Social Security number.

It's truly a Devil's bargain. Reducing illegal immigration will further deflate an already weakened housing sector and bring the economy to a halt. But allowing it to continue not only enables workers to be victimized, but endangers millions of unsuspecting Americans whose IDs are being tossed in a hat and given out at the local day labor site. There are no easy answers, and to even address the question will force us to make some very hard choices about what is important to us.

Here's the definitive article about this problem, courtesy of MSNBC's Bob Sullivan. Highly recommended. Also check this out.

Posted at June 19, 2006 03:02 PM

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An interesting article from the L.A. Times details how the sudden anti-immigration movement is hurting the Latino home buyer demand. What the article doesn't say, of course, is that much of this sudden strength in Hispanic home buying comes from predatory lending and extremely weakened credit standards. Not only that, but illegal immigration has been a tremendous salve to the home building industry. Where else are you going to find a huge pool of cheap labor that works for peas and doesn't ask questions? Of course, to get these folks jobs, they need IDs. And in the classic American entrepreneurial spirit, there is a cottage industry of ID theft surrounding the Social Security number. It's truly a Devil's bargain. Reducing illegal immigration will further deflate an already weakened housing sector and bring the economy to a halt. But allowing it to continue not only enables workers to be victimized, but endangers millions of unsuspecting Americans whose IDs are being tossed in a hat and given out at the local day labor site. There are no easy answers, and to even address the question will force us to make some very hard choices about what is important to us. Here's the definitive article about this problem, courtesy of MSNBC's Bob Sullivan. Highly recommended. Also check this out.