NW Valley Times

U.S. Congressional Candidate Blake Masters (R-AZ-8) said today that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) director’s recent statement that it is “illegal” for lenders to consider the immigration status of loan applications shows “Democrats don’t care about actual Americans.”

“Biden is pushing mortgages for illegal immigrants because the Democrats don’t care about actual Americans,” Masters told NW Valley Times. “In Congress, I’ll work with Senator Vance and President Trump to ensure that American loans and American houses are for American citizens, not illegal aliens.”

CFPB Director Rohit Chopra last week told a U.S. House committee that it is illegal for financial institutions to use “immigration status” of loan applicants in the loan application process.

“Immigration status can’t be used as some sort of pretext to discriminate against people illegally,” said Chopra in a hearing before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee. “We’re really worried when someone uses a type of characteristic to discriminate against a whole protected class as a ruse.”

“So what the guidance made clear is that national origin discrimination is one of many protected classes that is illegal to discriminate against under federal law,” said Chopra. “And while the guidance doesn’t say you have to lend to a certain person or not, when you use immigration status in a way that is pre textual, to discriminate against a certain group of people that is protected under law, that’s illegal.”

Chopra was chosen President Joe Biden in 2021 to be director of the CFPB.

The joint statement being referred to by Chopra was issued last year in the form of a joint statement with U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, titled, “Joint Statement on Fair Lending Opportunities for Noncitizen Borrowers under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.”

U.S. Senator J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) Vance responded by sending a letter to Chopra and Garland asking them to reconsider their guidance. 

“Financial institutions are right to be concerned that they may never see a return on loans issued to illegal immigrants,” said Vance. “If someone is deported to their home country, how is a bank in Ohio supposed to recoup the loan it was forced to issue?”

“The federal government should be cracking down on illegal immigration – not encouraging more of it.” 

Chopra’s testimony also came a few weeks after Restoration News reported that the Latino Community Credit Union (LCCU), based in Durham, N.C., might be providing mortgages to “undocumented immigrants.”

“Restoration News spoke directly with a LCCU representative about what would be needed for an ‘undocumented immigrant’ to obtain a mortgage,” reported Victoria Manning. “We were provided with this link and were informed the client would ‘need to have at least a tax ID’ and they even offered to process the tax ID on behalf of the client.”

Elon University lists LCCU as a financial institution that “offers loans that undocumented immigrants can apply for to cover the cost of their DACA application.”

Also listed is Durham-based credit union, Self-Help Credit Union, which is a co-founder of LCCU. LCCU’s current president, Vicky Garcia, formerly served on Self-Help’s board, reported Durham Reporter. 

“Self-­Help Federal Credit Union offers loans that undocumented immigrants can apply for to cover the cost of their DACA application and loans to help cover the cost of the citizenship application process,” says the Elon website.

Masters is one of six candidates currently running in the Republican primary to represent the 8th Congressional District. The district is currently represented by U.S. Rep. Debbie Lesko (R), who announced last year that she will be retiring at the end of the current term.

After growing up and attending high school in Tucson, Masters graduated from Stanford University and received his J.D. from Stanford Law School. He then co-founded legal research startup Judicata.

He is co-author of the bestselling business book, “Zero to One: Notes on a Startup” with Peter Thiel, and served as president of the Thiel Foundation. Masters married his wife, Catherine, in 2012 and they have four sons.