The Right's pandemic paranoia

Via Media Matters for America

While the Department of Homeland Security and the Centers for Disease Control spent the week informing the public with details on the H1N1 virus, the right-wing noise machine spent the week misinforming the public with paranoid theories about the virus. Because the flu virus may have originated in Mexico, the story provided some on the right with an excuse to engage in some good-old fashioned immigrant-bashing and renew their calls for greater border security. The story also provided right-wing media figures with more fuel for their fear-mongering about the Obama administration.

As the story of the H1N1 virus emerged, it was initially referred to as the "swine flu," but the Obama administration called for moving away from that language because it was contributing to baseless fears that the virus had to do with pork consumption. This did not sit well with CNN's Lou Dobbs, who referred to people using the H1N1 terminology as "idiots" and claiming "they are out of their cotton pickin' minds." Such people include several of Dobbs' colleagues at CNN, including the network's chief medical correspondent.

In response to the administration's request for a name change, radio host Neil Boortz suggested calling the virus the "fajita flu." But that was one of Boortz's more tepid comments about the virus. Boortz stirred up fears that the virus was some sort of "bioterrorist" plot, asking, "What better way to sneak a virus into this country than to give it to Mexicans?" Similarly, radio host Michael Savage claimed, "There is certainly the possibility that our dear friends in the Middle East cooked this up in a laboratory somewhere in a cave and brought it to Mexico knowing that our incompetent government would not protect us from this epidemic because of our open-border policies." After all, Savage claimed, the terrorists might have known that Mexicans "are the perfect mules for bringing this virus into America."

It's hard to determine which came first -- the intolerance or the paranoia.

Indeed, they make conservative leader Rush Limbaugh's suggestions of a conspiracy on the part of the Obama administration seem just slightly less delusional. Limbaugh claimed: "All of this is by design. It's designed to get people to respond to government orders. ... It is designed to expand the role and power of government and schools, and the media just falls right in line with it."

Meanwhile, Fox News' Glenn Beck speculated that the administration's response might have been designed to get Kathleen Sebelius rapidly confirmed as Health and Human Services secretary: "She can be confirmed right out of the gate because of this swine flu. So don't look over here, look at the swine flu, look at the swine flu, look at the swine flu. And she just goes right through the gate."

Thankfully, there were a few commentators urging restraint on the flu story. MSNBC's Joe Scarborough noted: "[T]here have been some irresponsible voices out there talking trying to link illegal immigration with this pandemic and that's just not the case at all. That's ignorant." And Fox's Shepard Smith remarked: "[E]verybody's emailing going, 'The illegals are bringing it across the border.' Relax! There's a flu outbreak going on, and you're worried about illegal immigration."

100 days of Obama misinformation

Wednesday marked President Obama's 100th day in office, and while most media used the occasion to evaluate the president's performance, Media Matters for America used it to examine the media's coverage of Obama over those 100 days.

The last 100 days saw media figures failing to consider the legacy of the Bush administration, framing of Obama as a social-fasc-commun-Nazi-McCarthy-Marxist, downplaying and joking about torture, dismissing global warming, smearing unions, claiming that Obama is going to "nationalize health care," scapegoating ACORN and immigrants and misreporting on earmarks on the stimulus package.

The period also saw an increased emergence of Obama Derangement Syndrome. Harkening back to attacks that were made during the Clinton administration, conservative media figures have asserted or suggested that Obama will sooner or later cede the sovereignty of the U.S. to the United Nations or some sort of one-world government, and repeatedly claimed that Obama is planning to take away people's guns.

In fact, the "Obama's going to take away your guns" claim is indicative of a mainstreaming of right-wing extremist culture by the conservative media that often includes violent and revolutionary rhetoric. Not surprisingly, after the Department of Homeland Security issued a report on right-wing extremist groups and the tactics they might use to attract new members, some conservative media figures decided that the report was actually targeting them, rather than seeing the report as a tool to help law enforcement officials.

And the last 100 days saw the rise of Fox News as the opposition-in-chief to the commander-in-chief. Fox News' opposition to the president has included repeated instances of the network trying to pass off GOP press releases, talking points and research as its own -- typos and all. Fox News even ran "FOXfacts" that were nearly identical to an op-ed written by a GOP congressman. But nothing could compare to the lengths a major news network went to in order to promote and encourage its viewers to attend "FNC Tax Day Tea Parties" in open protest of the Obama administration.

100 days of Limbaugh's attacks on Obama

Given all the outrageous comments and attacks of the last 100 days, Media Matters had a hard time choosing the worst media moment and asked our readers to decide. The winner was Rush Limbaugh's comment, "We are being told that we have to hope he succeeds, that we have to bend over, grab the ankles ... because his father was black."

Indeed, Limbaugh has spent the first 100 days of Obama's presidency repeating and elaborating on his claim that he wants Obama to fail, as well as attacking Obama for being "angry" and accusing him of wanting to "destroy" the United States of America. A review of his falsehoods and attacks illustrates his commitment to personally leading the charge against anything and everything Obama does as president:

• Day 3: Setting a disturbing tone for the next four years of his attacks, Limbaugh says: "We are being told that we have to hope he succeeds, that we have to bend over, grab the ankles ... because his father was black."

• Day 7: Limbaugh says that getting the "truth" out about Obama is "gonna be an epic battle, as Saddam Hussein said. Saddam Hussein Obama said."

• Day 21: In an all-too-common moment of self-aggrandizement, Limbaugh declares of Obama's first few weeks in office: "I've crashed the honeymoon. ... I've hijacked it, in fact."

• Day 25: Limbaugh declares: "I want the stimulus package to fail. ... I want everything he's doing to fail."

• Day 29: Demonstrating his deep disdain for Democrats, Limbaugh says of calls for "bipartisanship" in fixing the economic crisis: "Should Jesus have made a deal with Satan?"

• Day 39: Limbaugh throws Republicans under the bus: "The dirty little secret ... is that every Republican in this country wants Obama to fail, but none of them have the guts to say so. I am willing to say it."

• Day 40: Limbaugh speaks at the CPAC conference in Washington, D.C., thrashing Obama and the Democrats in front of a fervent crowd. Limbaugh says: "How did the United States of America become the world's lone superpower, the world's economic engine, the most prosperous opportunity for an advanced lifestyle that humanity has ever known? How did this happen? And why, pray tell, does the president of the United States want to destroy it?"

• Day 42: Responding to comments from RNC chairman Michael Steele that Limbaugh's rhetoric was "incendiary" and "ugly" - comments Steele would later walk back -- Limbaugh says of Steele: "Why do you claim that you are leading the Republican Party when you are obsessed with seeing to it the President Obama succeeds?"

• Day 58: Limbaugh claims that "everybody in the White House is in over their heads in fixing" the economic crisis and says those in the White House are "perfectly timed, perfectly programmed, perfectly educated to destroy capitalism ... and they're in the process of doing it."

• Day 64: Limbaugh says of Obama: "He's taking away freedom incrementally each and every day."

• Day 66: A poll claiming Americans think Obama will raise taxes yet still support him provides Limbaugh an opportunity to bash Obama and display some sexism: "They know he is lying through his teeth and they still support him. It just means this, what women have always known: 'Cheat on me, just don't tell me about it.' "

• Day 67: Limbaugh issues a pseudo-apology for saying that: "[W]hile my closing comment yesterday was certainly a comment containing a large element of truth, it still perhaps was inappropriate and so for that, I apologize." Yet, later in the show, Limbaugh returns to the rhetoric, saying of Obama: "He's a cult leader. Battered liberal syndrome. 'Cheat on me, just don't tell me.' "

• Day 70: Limbaugh says: "Based on what we've seen with General Motors and the banks, if he fails, America is saved. Barack Obama's policies and their failure is the only hope we've got to maintain the America of our founding."

• Day 80: Limbaugh uses the kidnapping of an American sea captain by Somali pirates to attack Obama and the Democrats: "Piracy is rebounding precisely because of the American left and the European left's lack of intestinal fortitude -- gonads, if you will." He later added: "The Democrat Party -- enemies of America are friends of the Democrat Party."

• Day 84: Following the rescue of the sea captain, and after previously bashing Obama for his handling of the situation, Limbaugh says he "was confident this was going to get settled. It was going to be resolved on way or the other way and regardless how, President Obama was going to be given credit for it."

• Day 85: Limbaugh predictably reacts to the leaking of a Department of Homeland Security report on "right-wing extremism" distorting the conclusions of the report, claiming Obama and DHS head Janet Napolitano are "extreme partisan radicals and they're ready to go war with a domestic enemy - conservatives - that they consider to be a greater threat than Iran, than China, than North Korea."

• Day 86: Limbaugh steers his listeners toward empathizing with right-wing extremists by falsely claiming that "Obama's DHS report" called "every mainstream conservative a right-wing extremist."

• Day 88: Limbaugh reacts to the Obama administration's release of previously classified Justice Department memos detailing interrogation techniques that were authorized to be used on detainees by claiming: "[I]f you look at what we are calling torture, you have to laugh." He went on to assert: "I just slapped myself. I'm torturing myself right now. That's torture according to these people."

• Day 91: In a comment emblematic of Limbaugh's frequent linking of Obama with Marxist and socialist leaders, Limbaugh asks: "Do you realize that Obama and [Venezuelan President Hugo] Chavez have more in common than they do not?"

• Day 100: Limbaugh gives Obama a "D" for his first 100 days, saying "We gotta allow room for more failure, cause it's gonna get worse."

There should be little doubt that for the next three years and nine months, Rush Limbaugh will continue his daily assault on President Obama. Limbaugh's attacks on President Bill Clinton in his first couple years in office were credited with helping Republicans take control of the House in 1994. If Obama does fail -- and the rest of America with him -- Limbaugh will deserve the credit he will be all too happy to accept.

Notable quotes this week:

• On the radio show Brian & The Judge, Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade said Sen. John McCain "should not be allowed to talk on torture because he is clearly somebody who went through unspeakable pain and punishment," adding that his views are "skewed" because he was tortured.

• Days after making headlines for exclaiming, "We are America ... We don't fucking torture," Fox News' Shep Smith stated: "Pol Pot was a big fan of this waterboarding action. Now we get some lawyers around the table and want to pretend like it's not torture."

• In his profile of Rush Limbaugh for Time magazine's "World's Most Influential People" feature, Glenn Beck wrote: "His consistency, insight and honesty have earned him a level of trust with his listeners that politicians can only dream of."

• Interviewing Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) about Sen. Arlen Specter's decision to join the Democratic party, CNN anchor Rick Sanchez responded to DeMint's comment that the "biggest tent of all is the tent of freedom" by stating: "What the hell does that mean? The biggest tent is freedom? Freedom? I mean, you gotta do better than that."

This week's media columns

This week, Media Matters Senior Fellow Eric Boehlert examines the media's trivial pursuits during Obama's first 100 days, while Senior Fellow Jamison Foser cautions the media not to make the same mistakes of years past when reporting on Obama's possible replacement for retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter, and Senior Fellow Karl Frisch considers 100 days of Fox News.

Week in Review video

This weekly wrap-up was compiled by Brian Frederick, deputy editorial director at Media Matters for America. He holds a Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Colorado.

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Paranoia pandemic: Conservative media baselessly blame swine flu outbreak on immigrants

Following an outbreak of swine flu in Mexico and subsequent confirmation of dozens of cases in the United States, conservative media personalities have baselessly blamed Mexican immigrants for spreading the disease across the border, continuing their long-standing trend of scapegoating immigrants while discussing major news stories. However, Rear Adm. Anne Schuchat, M.D., the interim deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's science and public health program, stated in an April 26 media availability: "I know that we have confirmation of disease in people who have traveled to Mexico, and I don't know the numbers, but I know that that is definitely the case in some of our cases, and that's an important factor to consider." Indeed, several media reports on U.S. swine flu patients indicated that they had recently traveled to Mexico.

Examples of conservative media figures blaming Mexican immigrants for the spread of swine flu into the United States include:

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City of Immigrants Fills Jail Cells With Its Own

SOURCE: Our friend Tony C. from Phoenix: "Here is an article on point for your ENDGAME investigations."



The Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls, R.I., was built on the hope that it would revive the city’s economy.

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CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. — Few in this threadbare little mill town gave much thought to the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility, the maximum-security jail beside the public ball fields at the edge of town. Even when it expanded and added barbed wire, Wyatt was just the backdrop for Little League games, its name stitched on the caps of the team it sponsored.

Then people began to disappear: the leader of a prayer group at St. Matthew’s Roman Catholic Church; the father of a second grader at the public charter school; a woman who mopped floors in a Providence courthouse.

After days of searching, their families found them locked up inside Wyatt — only blocks from home, but in a separate world.

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In this mostly Latino city, hardly anyone had realized that in addition to detaining the accused drug dealers and mobsters everyone heard about, the jail held hundreds of people charged with no crime — people caught in the nation’s crackdown on illegal immigration. Fewer still knew that Wyatt was a portal into an expanding network of other jails, bigger and more remote, all propelling detainees toward deportation with little chance to protes

If anything, the people of Central Falls saw Wyatt as the economic engine that city fathers had promised, a steady source of jobs and federal money to pay for services like police and fire protection. Even that, it turns out, was an illusion.

Wyatt offers a rare look into the fastest-growing, least-examined type of incarceration in America, an industry that detains half a million people a year, up from a few thousand just 15 years ago. The system operates without the rules that protect criminal suspects, and has grown up with little oversight, often in the backyards of communities desperate for any source of money and work.

Last spring, The New York Times set out to examine this small city of 19,000 and its big detention center as a microcosm of the nation’s new relationship with immigration detention, which is now sweeping up not just recent border-jumpers and convicted felons but foreign-born residents with strong ties to places like Central Falls. Wyatt, nationally accredited, clean and modern, seemed like one of the better jails in the system, a patchwork of county lockups, private prisons and federal detention centers where government investigations and the news media have recently documented substandard, sometimes lethal, conditions.

But last summer, a detainee died in Wyatt’s custody. Immigration authorities investigating the death removed all immigration detainees this month — along with the $101.76 a day the federal government paid the jail for each one. In Central Falls, where many families have members without papers, a state campaign against illegal immigrants spread fear that also took a toll: People went into hiding and businesses lost Latino customers in droves. Slowly, the city awoke to its role in the detention system, and to the pitfalls of the bargain it had struck.

In a sinking economy, immigration detention is a rare growth industry. Congress has doubled annual spending on it in the last four years, to $2.4 billion approved in October as part of $5.9 billion allotted for immigration enforcement through next September — even more than the Bush administration had requested.

Seeking a slice of that bounty, communities like Farmville, Va., and Pahrump, Nev., are signing up with developers of new detention centers. Jails from New England to New Mexico have already made the crackdown pay off — for the private companies that dominate the industry, for some investors and, at least in theory, for places like Central Falls, a city so strapped that the state pays for its schools.

Here, a specially created municipal corporation built the jail in the early 1990s to hold federal inmates, and last year more than doubled its size. As the City Council president, William Benson Jr., put it, “The more inmates they have, the more money we get.”

Yet in a community whose 1.3 square miles are said to be too small for secrets — “If you sneeze on Washington Street, someone on Pine Street says, ‘Gesundheit,’ ” Mr. Benson said — city officials, overwhelmingly non-Latino, seemed uninformed about who those inmates were. “Nobody knows exactly who’s down there,” he said. “I hear some are Arab terrorists.”

The mystery is in some ways understandable. Though immigration detainees made up one-third of the daily population and a majority of the 4,200 men and women who moved through Wyatt’s 722 beds in a year, most were from other states, and those from Rhode Island did not remain long: Immigration and Customs Enforcement typically transferred them within a week.

Some were legal immigrants who had served time for serious crimes. But increasingly they were the kind of people who in the past would not have been arrested — people without papers, similar to some of the people who play, cheer and live in Wyatt’s shadow. Sometimes the same people.

Anthony Ventetuolo Jr., one of Wyatt’s developers and now the jail’s chief executive, said that who the inmates were made no difference to the jail, which was run like a business, under strict standards. “I’m not interested in getting involved in the politics of immigration,” he said. “All we do is detain people that our clients tell us to detain.”

Swallowed by the System

Over 10 years, Maynor Canté, 26, hardly glanced at the jail he passed as he hurried between home, two jobs and St. Matthew’s Church, where he led a prayer group.

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Conservative radio hosts claimed HUD said 5 million illegal immigrants were given subprime mortgages, despite HUD's reported denials

MEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICA

Summary: Rush Limbaugh and KSFO's Lee Rodgers repeated a variation of the claim that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) gave "5 million illegal aliens" subprime loans that they have not paid back. Quinn & Rose's Jim Quinn also cited the 5 million statistic without citing a source for the figure. None of these radio hosts noted that HUD has reportedly stated that this statistic is false.

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On October 10, radio hosts Rush Limbaugh and Lee Rodgers repeated a variation of the claim that on October 9, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) reported, in Limbaugh's words, "that 5 million illegal aliens were given" subprime loans that they have not paid back. In addition, radio host Jim Quinn cited the 5 million statistic without citing a source for the figure. None of the talk radio hosts noted that HUD has reportedly stated that this statistic is false.

As Media Matters for America has documented, radio host Roger Hedgecock similarly claimed that "HUD was talking about 5 million illegal alien home mortgage loans that have gone bad." On October 9, the Drudge Report linked to an article posted on the website of Phoenix radio station KFYI under the headline "HUD: Five Million Fraudulent Mortgages Held by Illegals..." However, according to an October 9 Phoenix Business Journal article, HUD "says there is no basis to news reports that more than 5 million bad mortgages are held by illegal immigrants" and "a HUD spokesman said ... his agency has no data showing the number of illegal immigrants holding foreclosed or bad mortgages." KFYI stated in a subsequent article that a "person from Housing and Urban Development contacted KFYI to tell us the number was inaccurate, that there were only 2.3 million mortgages held by immigrants, so there was no way that 5 million illegals could have mortgages." KFYI also reported that its source for the original story was an unnamed "retired agent from Immigration and Customs Enforcement," who "stands by" the numbers in the original report.

From the October 10 broadcast of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show:

LIMBAUGH: What is the root right now of this economic problem? What's the root of it? Subprime mortgages. Not supposedly what has happened in the subprime mortgage industry, the whole country -- look at HUD yesterday admitting 5 million illegal aliens were given mortgages without -- with fake Social Security numbers and so forth to go out and purchase homes that they didn't have to pay back -- 5 million of them. And that's just a drop in the bucket to the number that are out there, and the number of banks that were involved.

Now, whose idea was this? Democrats -- starting with Jimmy Carter and moving through Bill Clinton. Who pressured banks via intimidation to make these kinds of loans? Democrats -- led by Jamie Gorelick and Janet Reno in the Clinton administration. Led by ACORN. Barack Obama was part of a suit against Citibank, Citicorp, to make them make such loans. The suit was settled out of court because of the pressure brought to bear.

From the October 10 broadcast of KSFO's The Lee Rodgers Show:

RODGERS: Neither of these pathetic weenies we have running for president wants to talk about this, but here's a reality check -- and this news story came out right after the program yesterday. And I think Rush devoted a little time to it, but it deserves all the exposure we can give it.

Some 5 million of these fraudulent home mortgages are in the hands of illegal aliens. These figures come from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The problem began years ago, when banks were forced to give mortgages without confirming Social Security numbers or borrower identification, and as a result, illegal immigrants were able to obtain home mortgages, which they could not afford, and some banks, starting with, I believe, B of A -- Bank of America -- was, if not the first, among the first of the big banks openly advertising that they would give mortgages to illegal aliens. Remember that?

Well, some of us -- we certainly were absolutely raising hell on the air about it, because they went ahead and did it. Now -- and now they have 5 million bad mortgages to illegal aliens. One guy was arrested in Tucson after using a stolen Social Security number to buy two houses and rack up over $780,000 in bad debt. Why? Because Bush and McCain and Obama and the Democrat Congress have absolutely no respect for our immigration laws. They don't have the guts to enforce them, and instead, they try every sneaky way possible to subvert the immigration laws. This is the sorry state at which we have arrived in this country.

From the October 10 broadcast of Clear Channel's The War Room with Quinn & Rose:

QUINN: The Democrats have done to this entire country what Enron did to its employees, and they have yet to pay a price for it.

By the way, another dirty little secret from the halls of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: Five million of these bad mortgages went to illegal aliens -- people who weren't even required to give a valid identification. Now, you can get mad about the excesses on Wall Street, and there are some. That can really tick you off, you know. AIG, what were you guys thinking?

You can get upset about that if you want to, but don't get too upset because it diverts you from the real problem: 5 million mortgages to illegal aliens who didn't even have to come up with an ID. They have given away your American dream, and by God, at some point, they need to be called to account for it.

—G.L. & N.T.

Guess who has fewer foreclosures?

Monday, October 6, 2008

ORIGINAL POST: DREAM ACT - TEXAS

Undocumented immigrants have a lower rate of home foreclosure than your average U.S. citizen.

Is it possible that maybe you could even be a more responsible person if you come to the U.S. without documents? The word illegal that the LAT writer is using is only literal to those who do not understand our legal system.

If you are undocumented and you come here, maybe you are taking the risk because your family doesn't have enough income to buy food. You take your responsibilities as a father or mother more seriously. In Mexico and other Latin American countries, governments don't help out like ours does. There is no choice but to leave. And people don't come to the U.S. looking for our government handouts. They come to work. In fact, with the increase in ICE raids, people have become very reluctant to ask for any type of assistance for fear of being arrested.

A couple of years ago I spoke to an administrator at the Harris County Hospital District who told me that undocumented patients paid their bills at a higher rate than your regular U.S. citizen. Surprise?

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latimes.com
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/immigration/la-me-immighome6-2008oct06,0,1279877.story
From the Los Angeles Times
Illegal residents but responsible homeowners
Undocumented immigrants who own homes have a lower rate of delinquencies than U.S. citizens, according to various real estate sources.
By Anna Gorman
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

October 6, 2008

Three years ago, Jose Perez purchased a small condo northeast of San Francisco for nearly $250,000. Since then, the first-time buyer has watched the housing market collapse.

But Perez has managed better at avoiding foreclosure than thousands of other U.S. homeowners who bought at the peak of the market.

What makes his case special is that Perez is an illegal immigrant.

Home loans held by illegal immigrants in California and across the nation generally have had fewer delinquencies than similar loans held by U.S. citizens, in part because of stricter lending requirements, according to banks, insurers and Realtors.

"Every indication is that their performance is better than the average" mortgage account, said Tim Sandos, president of the National Assn. of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals.

More than 12,000 home loans were issued in recent years through a special program that relies on government-issued taxpayer identification numbers instead of Social Security numbers, according to the association.

The identification numbers, known as ITINs, were designed for foreign-born residents living legally in the U.S. but are widely acknowledged to be used primarily by illegal immigrants.

The real estate association does not keep statistics on foreclosure rates. But it has reported that the delinquency rates for taxpayer identification loans were 1.15% or lower in 2006, compared with about 3.5% for other home loans.

Although illegal immigrants are also feeling the effects of the downturn in the U.S. economy, Sandos and others cite one major factor for the success of taxpayer identification loans: stricter requirements, including larger down payments, pre-purchase counseling and fixed mortgage rates.

But there is another reason, Sandos said.

"They come for the promise of a better future," he said. "They come for the promise of homeownership. Once they have it, they are going to move heaven and Earth to keep it."

Perez said that when he lost his job as a chef, his wife started working as a housecleaner. The couple dipped into their savings to pay the bills. Twice, they paid the mortgage on the 16th, one day past their grace period. But in July, Perez started a new job and resumed his on-time payments.

He said he sees his purchase as a unique opportunity.

"I was surprised that a bank actually was risking their money on a person like me," he said. "But they get their monthly payment with dues. They did a good business."

His agent, Pedro Morlet, said the 30-year fixed rates were crucial for clients who bought homes using their taxpayer identification numbers.

"Their mortgages stayed the same," he said. "They continued with the low payments, while a lot of people saw their mortgages go up $800, $1,200 or $1,500" a month.

So even if the buyers owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth, they can still afford the payments.

Advocates for tighter immigration controls oppose the idea of illegal residents buying homes in the United States. They say it only encourages illegal immigration.

"I don't believe they should be here to begin with," said Rick Oltman, spokesman for Californians for Population Stabilization. "So I don't believe that they should be . . . going to college on the taxpayer dollar, getting jobs or buying homes."

At least one Chicago bank started issuing taxpayer identification loans in 2000, and several other banks followed. The majority of the loans were issued in the last few years, at the same time that subprime loans hit their peak.

Many of the mortgages nationwide came out of a partnership between Citibank and Acorn Housing, a nonprofit group that helps the poor. Citibank said the taxpayer identification loans have some of the lowest delinquency rates among all affordable-lending programs.

"We believe that it has been a very successful program in terms of delinquencies," said Mark Rodgers, vice president of public affairs for Citi consumer banking. But Rodgers said it was too early to gauge foreclosure rates, because nearly all of its loans are less than 2 years old.

The Hispanic National Mortgage Assn. underwrote more than 2,000 such loans, but only about 20 were in California because of the shortage of affordable housing.

Leonardo Simpser, the association's chief executive, said the loans did "extremely well." In addition to strong pride of ownership among buyers, Simpser attributed the success to the underwriting process. The association accepted nontraditional credit history but was very strict with income requirements.

Despite the success of such loans, availability of new mortgages is starting to drop off. Mary Mancera, spokeswoman for the National Assn. of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals, said this is the result of the larger credit crunch.

"If people with traditional credit history are having a hard time getting money, it stands to reason why these have dried up," she said.

Michael Zimmerman of Mortgage Guarantee Insurance Corp., which insured about 1,000 taxpayer identification loans from 2004 to 2007, said the organization stopped insuring such loans last year because of a lack of demand by lenders.

He said Mortgage Guarantee Insurance is continuing to insure existing loans, which have performed well.

Zimmerman, senior vice president of investor relations, said the company did not do any automatic underwriting but instead relied on rent receipts, pay stubs and tax returns to make sure buyers were able to afford the homes.

Bruce Dorpalen of Acorn Housing said he has seen few foreclosures among undocumented home buyers enrolled in the Citibank program.

He said many buyers own their own businesses, have U.S.-born children and have money saved. If they do get into financial trouble, he said, many have an extended family safety net.

"If someone lost a job, there would be other people stepping in to help find a job or make the payments," he said.

USC professor Dowell Myers, who has studied housing trends among immigrants, said they are an increasingly important part of the housing market, in Los Angeles and around the nation, especially as baby boomers start to sell off. The banks have realized that and have reached out to immigrants, despite their legal status.

"They are judging them based on their character," he said.

"Based on the success of the ITIN mortgage, apparently they are making a good bet."

anna.gorman@latimes.com

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Posted by Marie-Theresa Hernández at 9:21 PM