On the campaign trail, Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez says the state must do more to crack down on illegal immigration.
But the bank in which he holds a controlling interest allows customers to do business with identification cards not recognized by the state.
Heritage Bank allows customers to open deposit accounts and apply for loans using a matricula consular card, which is issued by the Mexican government to its citizens living in the United States.
In 2003, the legislature banned state and local governments from accepting the identification after critics argued the IDs encourage illegal immigration.
This spring, the state Department of Motor Vehicles effectively prohibited banks from using the card to secure car loans.
Beauprez said the decision to use the cards was made after he left Heritage’s management to represent the 7th Congressional District. But, he said, “banks ought to have the right” to use the cards.
“You don’t turn private industry into cops. They’re not border patrol,” Beauprez said, adding that many banks use the card.
Barbara Walker of the Independent Bankers of Colorado said her group doesn’t track how many banks accept the card, but she said she believes most Colorado banks do not use the cards.
“It’s fair to say there has been a substantial decline in bank acceptance of matricula consular cards since this state law was passed in 2003,” she said.
In 2004, Rep. Beauprez voted for an amendment that stripped language from a federal appropriations bill that would have prevented the Treasury Department from using taxpayer money to help financial institutions accept the card.
Democratic candidate Bill Ritter’s spokesman, Evan Dreyer, called the vote “hypocritical.” Still, Dreyer said Ritter “doesn’t disagree” with allowing businesses to accept the card as identification.
Bill Mitchell, Heritage’s president and chief executive, said the bank began allowing customers to open accounts with the cards in 2003.
“We just respond to what we consider to be a competitive issue. And it’s just not a big issue in the grand scheme of things,” he said.
Bank officials also require a second ID with the cards.
Republican state Rep. David Schultheis, a hard-liner on immigration reform and a Beauprez supporter, said such policies make life in this country easier for illegal immigrants.
“For profits to trump patriotism I think, frankly, that’s not acceptable to me,” he said, adding that people should boycott banks that allow the cards’ use.
Schultheis said he was not going to criticize Beauprez.
Chris Frates can be reached at cfrates@denverpost.com or 303-820-1633.
