Tancredo doubts he can block amnesty-extension bill

Denver Post ^ | March 8, 2002 | Bill McAllister

[sarcasm]

Friday, March 08, 2002 - WASHINGTON - Rep. Tom Tancredo takes credit for thwarting the Bush administration's last effort to offer partial amnesty to thousands of illegal residents, but Thursday the outspoken immigration foe said he may have been outmaneuvered by the White House.

President Bush has struck a deal with the House leadership to place legislation that offers an extension of amnesty on its consent calendar before Bush heads to Mexico for a state visit next week, the Colorado Republican said.

That action should ensure quick House passage of legislation that Bush has repeatedly sought from Congress. It would allow an undocumented person to receive legal standing, such as a valid green card, by filing a declaration with the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

It presumably also would require the person to have been in the United States by a certain date and have filed a declaration with the INS from an appropriate sponsor, such as a relative or employer, and pay a $1,000 penalty.

"The terms are still up in the air," said Dan Stein, executive director of the Federation for American Immigration, a group that has been allied with Tancredo. "We've heard to the effect that the president wants something to bring down to Mexico."

The initial Bush proposal, designed exclusively for Mexicans, once was high on the president's legislative wish list, but it was delayed after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. However, as the president noted Wednesday in a speech to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, he now is pushing for the extension of the amnesty program known by the section of immigration law that covers it, Section 245I.

The president hailed it as a way to reunite family, separated by the border. "If you believe in family values, if you understand the worth of family and the importance of family, let's get 245I out of the United States Congress and give me a chance to sign it," Bush told the chamber members.

Tancredo, the head of a congressional caucus on immigration issues and proponent of halting virtually all immigration, said he had blocked a previous attempt by Bush to push an extension of the amnesty program through the House. But this time, he said House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., had agreed to place the issue on the suspension, or consent, calendar, making it difficult to defeat the proposal.

The Senate might be more favorable to the bill than the House, expanding the numbers of individuals who can apply, Tancredo said.

[HeartbrokenMom]

You say to send the illegals to Indiana? I have some news. The illegals ARE ALREADY THERE! That's right, the quiet, simple Midwestern state of Indiana, noted for its cornfields, has the illegal Mexicans swarming in from Chicago ~ into every small town ~ and they're not even trying to hide. In Chicago, the Mexicans have their own "community" and their culture and their habits stay there. In Indiana, the Mexicans are filling towns and cities at an alarming rate and changing the face of mainstream America. It's a bit frightening when our young people say: "Hey! The illegals can do it [break the law]...so we can too!"

[Texasforever]

And mine does not include supporting RINO sellouts.

Geeze is that the best you can do? Look, if you are going to defeat Bush with a "pure" conservative that is fine, hell I am not emotionally attached to the guy. But if you are just throwing a temper tantrum that ends up with a real socialist in power for 8 years then you need to grow the hell up.

[Joaquin]

Geeze is that the best you can do? Look, if you are going to defeat Bush with a "pure" conservative that is fine, hell I am not emotionally attached to the guy. But if you are just throwing a temper tantrum that ends up with a real socialist in power for 8 years then you need to grow the hell up.

I'm surprised it took you this long to resort to a personal attack, silly me.

[Native American Female Vet]

Here you are on yet another thread doing the same thing you always do. Your not looking for a real answer and it wouldnt matter if you got one. On this thread alone your more concerned someone wont vote for Bush again than you are about what he is doing.

[Texasforever]

I'm surprised it took you this long to resort to a personal attack, silly me.

That was no personal attack just an observation. Only juvenile personalities fail to think things through before taking an action guaranteed to make a bad situation worse.

[FreedomFriend]

Listen, Republicans can be as left-wing as the Democrats. Thus, what does it matter. Apparently, what we're seeing reveals that there is not much difference, and I will add that ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS.

Who cares whether someone is a Republican or Democrat, it's just a party affiliation. Conservative Principles, the ideology itself of morals and values, is what really matters.

[Texasforever]

On this thread alone your more concerned someone wont vote for Bush again than you are about what he is doing.

I could care less who votes for whom. I am just trying to figure out the "master" plan you all seem to have. So far there seems to be none so how in the hell do you plan to solve the problem?

[Texasforever]

Conservative Principles, the ideology itself of morals and values, is what really matters.

I agree 100% but I have to ask, do you consider Bush to be bereft of morals and values?

[FreedomFriend]

I don't believe that supporting and pushing through an amnesty that will hurt America is Conservative. As far as his religious convictions, his soul, and his morality, I don't know the man.

[Texasforever]

I don't believe that supporting and pushing through an amnesty that will hurt America is Conservative.

Do you consider Ronald Reagan conservative?

[doglot]

It is the same in North Carolina. Just change town and community names.

[Joaquin]

U.S. BORDER CONTROLU.S. BORDER CONTROL America's last best chance to reform our border
and immigration policies ... before it's too late.

[FreedomFriend]

Well, I wasn't into politics as a child. You see, Reagan left office when I was twelve years old. He entered when I was four years old. Thus, that would make me, about 25 years old. Actually, I'm still 24, but I'm really close.

Thus, that would have made me three, almost four, when Reagan entered office, and, eleven, almost twelve, when he left office.

[Joaquin]

U.S. Border Control

  Legislative Alert!

Vote NO on 245 (i)

Issue: Section 245 (i)

---

In just four short months, the temporary extension of Section 245(i) of the Immigration and Nationality act in 2001 legalized approximately 900,000 illegal immigrants.

Sec. 245(i), which is really a sneeaky back-door amnesty, gives illegal immigrants who are already here, but claim to have family members or an employer, to pay $1,000 to the U.S. government.

This $1000 payoff gives illegal aliens a green card so they could wait in America, instead of having to return to their native country to reapply for a chance to enter the U.S. legally.

Under Sec. 245(i), there are no background checks, so once again, our government would have no way of knowing who they are letting in.

Of course, this is outrageous and dangerous. But equally bad, it seems to reward those who have come here illegally by putting them in the front of the line.

If America is trying to fight terrorism; get a handle on immigration and control its borders, passing another extention of Section 245 (i) is the wrong thing to do.

I urge you to contact your Representative and tell him you oppose any extension of Sec.245(i) and will certainly vote against any politician who woudl vote to put our nation at risk merely to grab a few more votes from immigrants.

[sarcasm]

Reagan signed the amnesty during his second term. If I had known that he was going to sign such a bill I wouldn't have voted for him again either. Based on Bush's track record so far, a second term for him would be an absolute disaster.

[Texasforever]

Thus, that would have made me three, almost four, when Reagan entered office, and, eleven, almost twelve, when he left office.

Well the fact is that Reagan was the most conservative president in modern times. He also ask for and signed an amnesty very much the same as this one. You may ask why. The fact is that RR was in the process of developing what we now call NAFTA. I disagreed with both the NAFTA concept and the amnesty program under Reagan but I was damn glad he was president instead of Jimmy Carter and this country was better for it also.