Posted on 02/04/2005 4:26:13 AM PST by billorites
U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado wants to hold Presidential candidates' feet to the fire to help stop illegal immigration and secure the country's borders.
"This is an issue I want all the Presidential candidates to debate. I want the candidates when they come here to answer the questions, 'What are you going to do about the borders? Will you commit troops to the border?' " Tancredo, a Republican, said in an interview with The Union Leader.
Illegal immigration and securing the country's borders affect every aspect of American life, including jobs, health care, education and national security, he said.
"The issue is where do you get cheaper workers. Cheap is only that to employers, not to the American taxpayers," he said.
Tancredo came to New Hampshire on a two-day trip to raise the issue of immigration reform together with Angela "Bay" Buchanan, chairman of Team America, a political action committee focusing on immigration reform. Tancredo is the founding chairman of the organization.
Their first stop was to present an American Patriot Award to New Ipswich Police Chief Garrett Chamberlain; he detained nine Ecuadorian immigrants last summer, but federal officials told him to release them.
Tancredo will also speak on several radio programs, including the "Howie Carr Show" on WRKO radio today at 5 p.m. He will meet with Republican state representatives and conservative activists, and he will speak at Nashua Christian High School.
Yesterday, Tancredo was critical of the Bush administration's position to allow illegal immigrants already in the United States to remain here under a "guest worker" program. "He says he is against amnesty, and then in the next sentence he defines amnesty. That's Clintonesque, and it really bugs me," he said.
Tancredo said Bush is proposing amnesty and will encourage billions more people to cross the border illegally and tell everyone who entered legally they are suckers.
Congress last year authorized doubling the number of border control offices, but former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge refused to spend the money, he said. "If something (like the terrorist attacks of 9/11) happens, you tell me someone shouldn't be liable with the attitude of this administration," Tancredo said.
He said he will introduce a bill this session to double the number of border patrol officers and train them to use technology for better surveillance of the borders. He estimated it would cost about $8 million to double the border patrol and several billion dollars for the technology.
Until the number of patrol officers is doubled, Tancredo said, he would have the military help watch the borders. "We could seal the borders, but we choose not to" because of political pressure, he said.
He said he is finding more and more converts to his way of thinking.
"If this were not an issue for John Q. Public, it would not be an issue in Congress," he said.
Tancredo, in his fourth term in the U.S. House, serves on the House International Relations and Resources Committee and on the Budget Committee. He is chairman of the House Immigration Reform Caucus.
Tancredo was a school teacher before serving in the Colorado Legislature and then in the U.S. Department of Education during the administrations of Ronald Reagan and the senior George Bush. He was also head of the Independence Institute, a libertarian-leaning think tank in Golden, Colo
Why would anyone defend illegal aliens? Has to be at least one of the following reasons:
Personal financial gain
Blackmail
Mental defect
Hatred of this country, wanting to stick it to us
Involvement with terrorists
Love of the One World concept
Alexandria, VA: Speaking out for the first time on the question of immigration enforcement, the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) today announced its opposition to the Clear Law Enforcement For Criminal Alien Removal (CLEAR) Act and urged Congress to proceed with caution when considering measures that would compel local and state law enforcement agencies to enforce federal immigration laws. The IACP took this action after a careful review of the impact that enforcing immigration law could have on state, tribal and local law enforcement and the communities they serve.“The IACP opposes any plan that would coerce local and state law enforcement agencies to enforce federal immigration laws without their approval,” said IACP President Joseph Estey, Chief of the Hartford, Vermont Police Department. “Many leaders in the law enforcement community have serious concerns about the chilling effect any measure of this nature would have on legal and illegal aliens reporting criminal activity or assisting police in criminal investigations. This lack of cooperation could diminish the ability of law enforcement agencies to police effectively their communities and protect the public they serve.” {blah, blah, blah}...
And speaking of LA, maybe you should have read the story preceding your statistics on that website you linked to:
The LAPD’s ban on immigration enforcement mirrors bans in immigrant-saturated cities around the country, from New York and Chicago to San Diego, Austin, and Houston. These “sanctuary policies” generally prohibit city employees, including the cops, from reporting immigration violations to federal authorities.The enforcement is being thwarted at the local level.
H.R. 3534 (introduced by Rep. Tom Tancredo)
Just one example is the following excerpt:
b) SPECIAL RULE ON CITIZENSHIP AT BIRTH FOR CHILDREN OF H NONIMMIGRANTS- Notwithstanding title III of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1401 et seq.), or any other law, a child born in the United States to a parent who is a nonimmigrant described in section 101(a)(15)(H) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (as amended by section 210 of this Act) shall not be a national or citizen of the United States at birth unless the other parent is a citizen of the United States or an alien lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence.
"The issue is where do you get cheaper workers. Cheap is only that to employers, not to the American taxpayers," Tancredo said.
Whopper of the Week: Rep. Tom Tancredo (term limit lie)
Bump!
The illegal labour story is BS. Essentually, Tancredo hired a contractor to fix his basement, who hired a subcontractor for some work. The subcontractor unwittingly hired an illegal alien.
"opening up more resources to go after terrorists"
No, it will keep open the borders for millions more of ILLEGAL aliens to keep sucking the resources of this country dry.
BTTT for later...
Unwittingly? Why didn't Tom do anything about it? Too busy deporting high school honor students to police his own house?
A big Tancredo BTTT...
You're quoting SLATE for hecks sake.
Both of those articles are quite incomplete hackery.
They are both fact.
He DID recant his term limit pledge.
He DID have illegals do work in his home.
Wonder if PRND21 ever puts up the 'whoppers' his link carries about GWB, Rove, Ridge, etc.etc.??
Yes it is a real good thing...but I sure didn't see anything like that in the legislation currently in Congress. It needs to be there.
>"The enforcement is being thwarted at the local level."<
No doubt that is part of the problem.
Thank you for that info. I'll peruse it.
However, there must be a reason citizens in states like Arizona (and now Arkansas) are enacting legislation like Prop 200:
..and they don't appear to be getting much support from lawmakers at either the state OR federal level.
FReeper "Marine Inspector is a customs and border patrol officer. I'll defer to him:
What say you, Marine Inspector? Is this merely a problem with local officials not wanting to enforce immigration laws, or is the federal govt. complicit as well??
Regards
Sheesh, guess what. That food you ate yesterday, AN ILLEGAL PICKED IT!
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