FYI refuting "5 million illegals hold bad mortgages"

[Patiod]

Yesterday, one of my mother's fundie friends asked me what I thought about the 5 million illegal immigrants who hold bad mortgages.

I said "that number doesn't sound right to me". "Well", she replied "I heard it on the radio!" (she's originally from Texas and loves her Christian radio)

Sounded fishy to me, so I checked into it, and it turns out that last week, a rightwing Phoenix radio station had posted an interview with a "HUD spokesman" who made the claim. The station had to retract it when it turned out the guy was not a HUD spokesman but a retiree claiming to have worked at HUD, who was pulling the numbers out of his ass. But The Google reveals that, like most rightwing "faks", it has spread like wildfire among the nuts.

Here's the official statement from HUD:

"The U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development says there is no basis to news reports that more than 5 million bad mortgages are held by illegal immigrants.

A HUD spokesman said Thursday his agency has no data showing the number of illegal immigrants holding foreclosed or bad mortgages."

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2008/10/06/daily54.html

[EFerrari]

1. God, people are stupid. n/t