It's admirable that the ASI Federal Credit Union in Harahan, La. is moving to open a Latino branch office to serve its Spanish-speaking members. Every employee will speak both Spanish and English, and all documents will be printed in both languages. A good move.

The area's growing Hispanic population includes thousands of workers who entered the U.S. without the required documentation. ASI's branch will feature “safe accounts”–savings accounts from which members can make withdrawals using an ATM card. A second ATM card offers a way for foreign workers to send funds to family members back in their home country.

Whoa. To help illegal aliens continue to break the law? — Bad Move.

The key word here is “illegal.” Why does anyone want to be an enabler to blatantly help people break the law? I would think NCUA should be concerned.

Why don't we just organize a new credit union called Lawbreakers Federal Credit Union? It would have a very large field of membership. This could easily be a billion-dollar credit union. There are a number of former credit union employees in jail who could serve on the board of directors. They know credit unions.

CUNA Mutual will not insure a person who is convicted of fraud in a credit union . . . but it continues to insure a credit union that serves illegals in its field of membership. Something is wrong here.

Helping aliens in our society is an admirable move. Yes, our country was built by people from foreign countries who, for the most part, entered our country legally. I'm all for supporting legal aliens. Unfortunately, our government has not enforced the law and has done a poor job in keeping lawbreakers out of the country. But that seems to be OK as credit unions step forward to help the lawbreakers.

Give me a break!

Bill Rogers, Consultant
William Rogers & Associates, Inc.
P.O. Box 510047
St. Louis, MO 63151-0047