While much of Congress has been trying to figure how high (in billions) to jump in order to further Washington's new, worst-of-all-worlds socialism, the Colorado Representative has tried to remind his colleagues that the so-called "bail-out" should not be a spending free-for-all where the bad guys win twice.

U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Littleton) asked Congressional leadership to include safeguards in the bailout plan to verify the legal residency and identity of potential homebuyers to ensure that illegal aliens are not obtaining federally backed home loans — and that taxpayers are not absorbing the debts of illegal aliens, or bad loans made by banks to illegal aliens. 

In a letter today, Tancredo asked his Congressional colleagues to oppose any package that lacks such safeguards.
[Tancredo Demands ”Bailout’ Provisions that Bar Handouts to Illegal Aliens, Office Press Release, Sept. 24, 2008]

Michelle Malkin recently connected important dots about the non-American beneficiaries: Illegal Immigration And The Mortgage Mess.

But there's one giant paternal elephant in the room that has slipped notice: how illegal immigration, crime-enabling banks and open-borders Bush policies ffueled the mortgage crisis.

It's no coincidence that most of the areas hardest hit by the foreclosure wave–Loudoun County, Va., California's Inland Empire, Stockton and San Joaquin Valley, and Las Vegas and Phoenix, for starters–also happen to be some of the nation's largest illegal alien sanctuaries. Half of the mortgages to Hispanics are subprime (the accursed species of loan to borrowers with the shadiest credit histories). A quarter of all those subprime loans are in default and foreclosure.

However, alarms were being sounded years ago about the imprudence of giving no-money-down loans to illegal aliens, whose real identity cannot be ascertained and whose shelf-life in this country is not guaranteed. For example, former investment banker Joe Guzzardi wrote in 2005 how banking practices had changed for the worse, Mortgages For Illegal Aliens: Are Banks The Treason Industry?.

No matter how hard I try, I simply cannot conceive of any bank granting home loans to applicants who cannot produce a social security card.

Nor can I for the life of me imagine proposing to my former superiors a new type of loan whose success is dependent on violating federal law on several levels.

All I can say is that if I had ever summoned up the nerve to try such a scheme, my career would have been instantly and forever in the toilet.

Incidentally, Tom Tancredo also issued a press release this month noting his legislation that the United Nations has worn out its welcome in New York City and should move elsewhere (HR 7027, aka the "U.N. Eviction Act"). The bill directs the Attorney General to dispose of the UN property by putting it up for sale on the open market. Since real estate is currently in the air, now seems like a fine time to propose such a nice fantasy, impossible though it is.