Press Release

For Immediate Release, October 1, 2004
Contact: Lorraine Quiroga, 202-833-6130

Washington, D.C.- The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) joined Senate Democrats yesterday at a press conference to support legislation that could prevent fraud abuses against immigrants who send remittances to their home countries. 

Yesterday, Senate Democrats, led by Senator Paul S. Sarbanes (D-MD), the Ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, announced the introduction of legislation to combat remittance abuses.  Remittances are the payments sent home from workers, generally immigrants, living in the United States to family, friends, and communities in their country of origin. Emerging evidence shows that in the last decade the dollar amount of remittances sent from America abroad has increased dramatically.  Today it is estimated that more than $30 billion flows abroad from the United States in the form of remittances to Latin American countries, along with significant remittance flows to other parts of the world as well.  

Remittors are frequently the victims of fraud when they attempt to send money to their families abroad.  Remittors make a huge difference to their families in their home countries but unfortunately there are many that fail to receive the full amount due to exorbitant hidden fees levied against them unknowingly and unwillingly as part of the remittance transaction process. 

“Many Latinos send money home in the form of remittances to sustain their families.  The money sent can make the difference between not being able to eat and going to school instead of working at an early age.  That is why it is critical that we pass legislation that would protect these people’s hard-earned wages,” said LULAC President Hector Flores. 

Remittors are usually low wage earners, with modest formal education and relatively little experience in dealing with this country’s complex system of financial institutions. “It is criminal to gouge these individuals.  They are working hard to sustain not only the economy of the United States, but that of the country that they left,” added Flores.  

This legislation promises to address many of the financial literacy challenges that these individuals face by ensuring that they have the information necessary to make good decisions and thus decrease the likelihood of being defrauded.  LULAC now calls on Congress to support this legislation that could finally put an end to remittance abuse. 

The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is the oldest and largest Latino civil rights organization in the United States.  LULAC advances the economic condition, educational attainment, political influence, health, and civil rights of Hispanic Americans through community-based programs operating at more than 700 LULAC councils nationwide. LULAC is non-partisan organization and does not endorse candidates for elected office

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