PATRIOT ACT ABUSES?
That Girl writes:
My credit union — after telling me on the phone that he would not need a green card to become a member — insisted that he needed a green card to become a member. They insist this is what the Patriot Act requires, even though my research very clearly contradicts that. (My understanding is that the Patriot Act gives no specifics regarding the forms of ID a bank may accept, just that, basically, they must "verify and record information that identifies the customer". I've seen bank websites that list the forms of ID they will accept, and a green card is just one of the things a non-citizen can use for ID. We had multiple forms that the other banks will allow, but mine wouldn't have it.
If this story is true, then we should think about how street-level officials are thinking and talking about the Patriot Act, and not just complain about coverage of the act by the news media and civil liberties groups.
2 Comments:
Of course, to be fair, customer "service" people say stupid things and make mistakes all the time. And further, people often like to throw up high-falutin' explanations like "it's the law" (even better if you can cite one that sounds plausible) to cover their ignorance.
I am not saying that this is case here, I really don't know, but neither does the anecdote provide evidence for the sinister nature of the Patriot Act.
-Steven (who needs to remember his Blogger pw), from PoliBlog.
No, I agree with your comments. But my post is directed at defenders of the act who claim that it's primarily the media (and civil-liberties-groups-induced-hytseria) that give the act a bad rap. If street-level bureaucrats are, well, "misinterpreting" the act, then perhaps their behavior should be examined as well, at least to the extent that their actions arguably define what the act means in practice.
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