Mr. Cannon, have you ever actually READ what the Republican Party stands for? I suggest you take your own advice and check to see if YOUR views are consistant with THIS:
"The United States of America is a nation not a league... It is the immediate duty of congress fully to investigate the effects of the immigration and importation of [immigrants] on the moral and material interests of the country."
-- 1876 REPUBLICAN Party Platform
“The Republican party having its birth in a hatred of slave labor and a desire that all men may be truly free and equal, is unalterably opposed to placing our workingmen in competition with any form of servile labor, whether at home or abroad. In this spirit, we denounce the importation of contract labor…as an offense against the spirit of American institutions; and we pledge ourselves to sustain the presen law restricting… immigration, and to provide such further legislation as is necessary to carry out its purposes”.
-- 1884 REPUBLICAN Party Platform
“For the protection of the equality of our American citizenship and of the wages of our workingmen, against the fatal competition of low priced labor, we demand that the immigration laws be thoroughly enforced, and so extended as to exclude from entrance to the United States those who can neither read nor write.”
--1896 REPUBLICAN Party Platform
"We pledge the Republican Party to the enactment of appropriate laws to give relief from the constantly growing evil of induced or undesirable immigration, which is inimical to the progress and welfare of the people of the United States."
--1912 REPUBLICAN Party Platform
“The restriction of immigration is a Republican policy. Our party formulated and enacted into law the quota system, which for the first time has made possible an adequate control of foreign immigration. Rigid examination of applicants in foreign countries prevented the coming of criminals and other undesirable classes while other provisions of the law have enabled the President to suspend immigration of foreign wage-earners who otherwise, directly or indirectly, would have increased unemployment among native born and legally resident foreign born wage-earners in this country…We favor the continuance and strict enforcement of our present laws upon this subject.”
--1932 REPUBLICAN Party Platform
“There should be considerable concern over the presence of several million illegal aliens in the country who fill jobs that otherwise would be available to American workers. We support increased efforts to deal more effectively with this problem and favor legislation prohibiting employers from knowingly hiring illegal aliens. The Democrat leaders in Congress have systematically killed every attempt to debate this legislation in recent years.”
--1976 REPUBLICAN Party Platform
“We support efforts to secure our borders from the threat of illegal immigration. Illegal immigration has reached crisis proportions, with more than four million illegal aliens now present in the United States. That number, growing by 300,000 each year, burdens taxpayers, strains public services, takes jobs, and increases crime. Republicans in both the House and Senate have passed bills that tighten border enforcement, speed up deportation of criminal aliens, toughen penalties for overstaying visas, and streamline the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Illegal aliens should not receive public benefits other than emergency aid, and those who become parents while illegally in the United States should not be qualified to claim benefits for their offspring. We call for harsh penalties against exploiters who smuggle illegal aliens and for those who profit from the production of false documents. Republicans believe that by eliminating the magnet for illegal immigration, increasing border security, enforcing our immigration laws, and producing counterfeit-proof documents, we will finally put an end to the illegal immigration crisis.”
--1996 REPUBLICAN Party Platform
"The [Republican] Party believes that Congress should adequately staff and fund the U.S. Border partrol to protect and secure our intertional borders...and that the U.S. Border patrol be deployed within in the u.S. to locate and secure all illegal aliens who have previously entered our country, to exxpedite their return to their source country...the [Republican] Party belives the security of our orders is an urgent national interest...[we] oppose illegal immigration and all forms of amnesty, or any legal status granted to illegal immigrants irrespective of program, name or race"
--2004 Texas REPUBLICAN Party platform
The quotes from previous Republican Party platforms regarding immigration and illegal immigration is very interesting. I had not previously seen such a collection of quotes.
Cong. Tancredo should stay in the Republican Party. He is a true patriot. Cong. Cannon is a supporter of illegal aliens. I hope Cong. Tancredo runs for president in 2008.