He does this so that he can maintain "Tancredo-the-myth"
Were he to to say what he intends to do about the illegals, his fund-raising would plummet.
That's the important part of his message that Bush and others in Washington aren't getting. The argument over whether illegals inside the country should be removed tomorrow cold turkey or gradually over a 5 to 10 year period can be reasonably debated. But he doesn't sound like a shill for illegal aliens to me in any way.
As far as the illegals inside the country: Tancredo probably would take the Krikorian approach for political reasons. But it is still far better than the status quo. One thing that makes the idea feasible is that Tancredo's bill would end the anchor baby scam, which gives the executive branch an excuse not to deport many illegals they find.
There's nothing that he's not admitting. All that's happened is that you've come up with a strawman for what an anti-illegal would think, you note that Tancredo doesn't live up to your strawman, and then you accuse him of hypocrisy.
Were he to to say what he intends to do about the illegals, his fund-raising would plummet.
You can't judge what he intends to do about the illegals on the basis of this one bill. Politics is the art of the possible, and he's trying to do what's possible. And his proposals are head-and-shoulders above anything that anyone else in Washington is proposing.