A seldom-reported fact that has greatly contributed to the nation’s financial crisis is that millions of illegal immigrants across the U.S. have fraudulent home mortgages and many have defaulted.

The illegal aliens obtained the loans from banks that were pressured by the government to offer them. In fact, the agency in charge of preserving and promoting public confidence in the nation’s financial system, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), began pushing banks to offer services to illegal immigrants a few years ago.

As a result, some 5 million fraudulent home mortgages are in the hands of illegal aliens, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), a cabinet-level agency that strives to increase access to affordable housing free from discrimination. Now U.S. banks routinely offer services to people without Social Security numbers by accepting the Mexican identification called matricula consular to open accounts.

Mexican border states and sanctuary cities have been hit especially hard by mortgage foreclosures although every region has been negatively impacted by the federally-encouraged illegal immigrant loan scam. One of dozens of examples features an illegal alien in Arizona arrested after using a stolen Social Security number to buy two homes and rack up nearly $1 million in debt.

The loan default rate among illegal immigrants is high because they are inherently unreliable, prone to fraud and may be forced to return to their home nation, according to a congressman representing a state that operated a mortgage fraud ring with hundreds of unqualified borrowers that used fake identities to get money.

Now the $700 billion government bailout of the nation’s financial system will help illegal immigrants who can’t afford their home loans. Isn’t it enough that U.S. taxpayers are already spending tens of billions of dollars annually for their education, health care and other costly social services?