USDA gives loans, grants to Mexican citizens
By The Lonewacko Blog Posted in User Blogs — Comments (4) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
A new program from the U.S. Department of Agriculture offers loans and grants to Mexican citizens who want to buy property in the United States. The program is a partnership between the Mexican government and the U.S., and it's apparently only open to legal residents from Mexico, not illegal aliens or those from other countries.
Apparently there are no American citizens who might wish to purchase property in rural areas or in the borderlands, and thus the Bush administration has decided to help out citizens of another country.
The State Department report "Pact Aims to Help Mexicans Living in Rural Parts of United States" says:
...The programs also support loans to businesses through banks and community-managed lending pools, and offer technical assistance and information to help agricultural and other cooperatives get started and improve the effectiveness of their member services.
President Bush says that while more and more people own homes in the United States, fewer than half of all Hispanics in the country are homeowners. At an October 2002 White House conference on minority home ownership, the president set a 2010 goal of increasing the number of minority homeowners in the United States by at least 5.5 million families.
The USDA press release describes this partnership with the Mexican government:
MEXICO CITY, May 13, 2005-Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns and Secretary of Foreign Affairs for Mexico Ernesto Luis Derbez Bautista today signed a partnership arrangement to improve access to USDA rural development programs for eligible Mexicans in the United States.
"USDA looks forward to continuing to work with Mexican authorities to enhance outreach to the Mexican community," said Johanns. "USDA administers 43 rural development programs designed to assist rural residents and communities increase their economic opportunities and improve their quality of life. Expanding access to these programs in underserved communities in need, especially the Hispanic community, is a priority for the Bush Administration."
See the long transcript of Johanns' remarks in Mexico City on May 13 for more, including the information that this is related to the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America.
All of these press releases point out that the Mexican consulates in the U.S. will be promoting this program and will be deeply involved in other ways.
And, the press releases also switch back and forth between the "Mexican community in the U.S." and the Hispanic version thereof, presumably referring to U.S. citizens. Clearly there's some confusion within the upper reaches of the Bush administration.
While this policy is probably coming straight from the top, see Bush's Open-Borders nominees for more on Johanns.
On a related note, the FDIC is working with the Mexican consulate in Chicago to give home loans to illegal aliens.
We can keep the food inspectors to protect the integrity of our food supply (although they definitely need to be reformed and modernized IMO) but most of what it does is simple transfer payments. I don't care whether we're talking about food stamps, agricultural subsidies, or those living or owning property in rural areas. This is not a proper function of government in a free society.
Great line, Mentor.
I'm assuming the fact that we let many Mexican citizens cross our borders ever day with virtually no penalty isn't enough. We're now encouraging them to buy land "that American's just don't want." Is that it?
I'm an American citizen, lived here all my life, and I had to jump through hoops for a mortgage company, realtor, township I moved to, just to buy a dinky house in a suburb with no land. Not to mention having perfect credit for the 5+ years preceeding the time when I wanted to buy a house. This just begs the question, when is enough enough?