Gringo Papers
Credit for Illegal Aliens
By Daniel Muniz

Up until recently, blatantly flouting our immigration laws in this country has been the norm for decades. And the reason for this patent disregard of the law was because enforcement was practically non-existent. In fact, millions of illegal aliens have been able to easily acquire employment, find a place to live, and send their children to school. In fact, nearly all of them had absolutely no fear of ever getting caught.

And even the illegal immigrants who were apprehended never had much to worry about because it wasn’t like it was the end of the world. If they ever got deported, which was very unlikely, they could easily return to the United States and resume life as if nothing had happened.

Consequently, it was in this permissive atmosphere that allowed communities of illegal aliens to thrive.

As a result, big corporations and small businesses alike bitterly competed for their business. Even though most illegal immigrants were part of the working poor, they were not destitute. After spending years in this country, they now had money to spend although many of them were still on a cash-basis system.

After all, it was difficult for most illegal aliens to get credit. Even though identity theft was common because it was necessary to use someone else’s social security number for employment, it was hard to build good credit since there could very well be dozens of other illegal immigrants using the same stolen identity.

But if there is a buck to be made, businesses will find a way to make it.

One such brazen example occurred in Alexandria Virginia by the Casa Furniture and Bedding chain.

A sign outside their shop read “credito sin papeles de gringo” which means “credit without gringo papers” although it is interpreted in the illegal alien community as meaning that this place is offering credit to anyone who is not a citizen or a legal resident alien. “Gringo papers” or “papers from the gringo” is a just cute way of saying “official government documentation” like a valid picture ID and a social security number or any other legal documents.

After all, it is the “white man” or the gringo that runs this country; hence it is “his” or the gringo’s documents or papers.

Without a valid identity, an illegal immigrant doesn’t have a credit report that a lender can use to evaluate his or her credit worthiness. But that is no problem here. Casa Furniture and Bedding has an informal and round about way to still grant credit to someone who is here in this country illegally. And it doesn’t take much to imagine that the terms and interest rates are probably as awful as payday loans.

Of course the sign did generate controversy because calling something the “papers from the white man” smacks of a racial slur, especially used in this context. Something more accurate like “government papers” or “official papers” would have conveyed the same meaning. However, the managers didn’t think it was derogatory at all:

“But the word ‘gringo’ in the store's sign is not intended to offend anyone.”

Blanca Granados – Assistant Manager
Casa Furniture and Bedding
Source: The Washington Times

And there were also a number of prominent people who immediately defended this advertisement, such as Michael Barrera, president of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. He explained that using “gringo” in this context was not insulting. I wonder if he would feel the same way if a store used the word “wetback” in an advertisement for illegal aliens looking to buy furniture on credit.

Of course not! The Hispanic community would have been outraged and rightly so.

However, this double-standard doesn’t hold water anymore. Times have changed.

But more to the point is that this country has really started cracking down on illegal immigration. For decades, businesses had the audacity to openly hawk their wares like the way that this furniture shop did and nobody cared. It wasn’t as if anyone was going to call the authorities. And if someone did, nothing would happen because enforcement of our immigration laws didn’t amount to a warm bucket of spit.

However, the illegal immigration debate is now in the forefront of the political arena. As a result, federal authorities have more resources and more of an impetus to find the people who are in this country illegally.

In the past, nobody would have cared about a sign like this out in public even if it had a racial slur. Today, this same incident is being noticed and it is also being openly criticized.

Immigration reform is finally starting to take root in this country. And ridiculous issues like illegal aliens being able to buy things on credit are not as easy to promote as it once was.

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