Katherine Mangu-Ward writes in Reason magazine about Bank of America’s new programme to give access to credit cards in the United States to those without social security numbers - basically illegal immigrants. She points to a Wall Street Journal article which says:

In recent years, banks across the country have begun offering checking accounts and, in some cases, mortgages to the nation’s fast-growing ranks of undocumented immigrants, most of whom are Hispanic. But these immigrants generally haven’t been able to get major credit cards, making it hard for them to develop a credit history and expand their purchasing power.

The new Bank of America program is open to people who lack both a Social Security number and a credit history, as long as they have held a checking account with the bank for three months without an overdraft. Most adults in the U.S. who don’t have a Social Security number are undocumented immigrants.

Not everyone in the US is happy. CNN’s anti-globalisation presenter Lou Dobbs - described as “a blithering idiot” by The World is Flat author Thomas Friedman - says that the bank’s policy is “silly and outrageous”. Meanwhile, Republican congressman Tom Tancredo claims, implausibly, that the programme is pro-terrorist.

Mangu-Warn is more supportive:

Will offering legit accounts to illegals encourage more scofflaw behavior? Probably not. It’s far better to have legal mainstream options for getting money or credit when it’s needed. When an illegal immigrant is faced with unexpected medical bills, surely it is preferable for him to be able to put it on a credit card and pay it off gradually, rather than turn to various unsavory and potentially illegal ways to get his hands on the money. And far better for illegals to keep their money in banks with a taxpayer ID than under a mattress in a crowded house, ripe to cause conflict or encourage theft.