William R. Clark wrote last month that Credit Unions Should Not Serve Illegals, (CU Times, Nov. 5, 2014), a letter that has been on my mind and in my heart the past few weeks as I witnessed Lower Valley Credit Union prepare to host the first of its Citizenship Workshops Dec. 6.
Through national, regional and community partnerships, LVCU assisted 50 undocumented immigrants in completing the paperwork required to file an application for citizenship. More than 88% of LVCU's members live in a low-income Investment Area and, of those, 43% are foreign-born Hispanics.
Since 1988, U.S. citizenship application fees for naturalization have increased 992%, from $60 in 1988 to $595 in 2007. While fees for adults have remained unchanged since then, citizenship certificate fees for children who derive their citizenship through their parents have increased from $255 in 2007 to $600 in 2010.
Along with fingerprinting fees, the cost for application and fingerprinting for a family of three (two adults and one child) living at the 2013 federal poverty level could cost the equivalent of 10% of the family annual income.
Undocumented immigrants are not villains. Many want to become citizens, and without credit unions willing to step up, they will continue to languish at the mercy of predatory financial institutions.
A 2013 CDFI Grant Award of $1.65 million will assist LVCU to expand its Citizenship Program, which includes the workshops and Citizenship Loans to help finance the cost associated with becoming a citizen of the United States of America. The program is expected to pave a pathway to citizenship for hundreds (potentially thousands) of currently undocumented immigrants.
The credit union has been nationally recognized for the creation of this program and for its service of the Hispanic community, including winning the 2014 CU Times Trailblazer Service to the Underserved Award.
Serving this community matters – and not just in terms of dollars and cents. Credit unions have been serving immigrants since their inception. As Miriam De Dios recently pointed out, "Credit unions have an outstanding opportunity to demystify the U.S. financial system for literally millions of Hispanic immigrants and the second-generation family members who follow their lead. Of course, they have to push past the headlines and the politics that have tarnished the term immigrant."
Immigrant and minority communities are growing across the country, and, for the most part, they are underserved by mainstream financial institutions. To me, the question isn't should we serve illegal immigrants, but rather, how can we help the outcast members of our community realize the goal of living and working legally in the United States?
Credit unions like LVCU that proactively anticipate the needs of their members – as opposed to taking a moral stand against them – are a more relevant part of their members' lives, providing affordable access to credit that improves their quality of life and strengthens the economy.
Cathie Mahon said it best in her letter, Credit Unions Should Include Immigrants (CU Times, Nov. 13, 2014): "Immigrants are not terrorists. They are often low-wage day laborers and domestic workers. They are the people who grow and harvest our food. They are members of our communities, actively participating in the economy, who need access to the safe and affordable products and services that credit unions provide."
Finally, I would like to quote credit union pioneer Roy F. Bergengren: "The real job of a credit union is to prove, in modest measure, the practicality of the brotherhood of man."
LVCU, and many credit unions across the country, are putting that brotherhood into practice every day, and they deserve our support, not our political judgments.
Scott Butterfield is principal at the Seattle-based small credit union consulting firm Your Credit Union Partner. He can be reached at 253-507-2443 or [email protected].
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