326 Identification Comments
U.S. Department of the Treasury
Office of General Counsel David D. Aufhauser
VIA Internet site at http://regcomments.treasury.gov
Re: Section 326 Notice of Inquiry: Identification
Docket No. 1506-AA31
Dear Mr. Aufhauser:
On behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union and its nearly 400,000 members, dedicated to the principles of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, which guarantee equal protection for all, including immigrants, we write with great concern regarding the proposed notice of inquiry.
The notice appears to open the door to changes to the rules implementing section 326 of the USA PATRIOT Act, Pub. L. No. 107-56, that could be of great harm to hard working, tax-paying immigrants. The ACLU opposes any change to the customer identification rules that would prohibit financial institutions from using certain types of foreign government-issued identification that are not linked to a particular immigration status, such as Mexico's matricula consular, in order to open bank accounts for immigrants. Such a rule would deny basic dignity to millions of immigrants by denying them essential financial services, and could encourage discrimination by financial institutions.
Section 326 of the USA PATRIOT Act requires the Treasury Department to issue rules to ensure that financial institutions verify the identity of account holders in order to permit them to ""consult[] lists of known or suspected terrorists or terrorist organizations . . . to determine whether a person seeking to open an account appears on any such list."" Congress's purpose in enacting such a requirement was to prevent individuals and organizations who are on a terrorist watch list from opening bank accounts. Section 326 is not authorization from Congress for the Treasury Department to enlist banks as agents of the immigration authorities.
Enlisting banks in an effort to verify immigration status, by prohibiting the use of perfectly valid forms of identification that are not related to immigration status, could undermine, rather than enhance, national security. Terrorists are unlikely to be deterred from opening bank accounts by a rule that forbids banks from accepting certain forms of foreign identification such as Mexico's matricula consular. Rather, they are likely instead to present false identification, such as a false drivers license or passport, which are easily obtained. Indeed, by effectively barring many immigrants from opening bank accounts with their own, legal forms of identification, a change in the Treasury Department's rules could substantially increase the demand for false identification, making such documents even more plentiful.
Changing the identification rules would have a devastating impact on the immigrant community. Several dozen 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. By enabling financial institutions to tap into this market, financial institutions have been able 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 promotes law enforcement goals with respect to combating 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 immigrants access to lawful, regulated financial institutions is likely to increase the demand for irregular money transfer systems of exactly the kind the Treasury Department is most concerned could be exploited by terrorists and other criminals. 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. It would simply be one more step in misguided government policies that falsely equate immigrants with terrorists.
Finally, by shifting the requirements toward standardized identification, this change could lay the foundation for the creation of a national identification card that would require all people, citizen and non-citizen alike, to carry federal-issued identification. A national identification card could require all Americans to carry an internal passport at all times, compromising privacy, limiting freedom, and increasing unfair discrimination based on national origin or religion.
Sincerely,
Laura W. Murphy
Director, Washington National Office
Timothy Edgar,
Legislative Counsel