Posted on 10/18/2002 7:43:53 AM PDT by dennisw
| Tancredo's remarks draw new round of criticism By M.E. Sprengelmeyer, Rocky Mountain News
WASHINGTON - Rep. Tom Tancredo wants federal officials to round up illegal immigrants trying to get identification cards at the Mexican consulate in Denver - an idea others dismissed as unrealistic, unconstitutional and a scare tactic. "What kind of bizarre Tom Tancredo planet is he living on?" asked Andrew Hudson, Denver Mayor Wellington Webb's spokesman, when told about the congressman's latest comments against making accommodations for illegal immigrants. The Littleton Republican, a leader in the national immigration reform movement, is incensed that Denver plans to recognize matricula consular cards the consulate issues to Mexican nationals, whether they're in the United States legally or not. The cards, which help the holders gain access to services that require identification, such as bank accounts, hospital care or basic city services, do not disclose a person's immigration status. Tancredo was angered when he saw photographs in the Rocky Mountain News showing long lines of people at the consulate waiting to apply for the cards. In an interview Wednesday, Tancredo said he planned to write a letter to the Immigration and Naturalization Service asking officials what they plan to do. "The only people who would of course need such a card are people who are here illegally," Tancredo said. "And they (the INS) should certainly have a bus sitting right there next to these lines of people, and as they pick up a card (the INS should) pick them up and say . . . 'Are you here legally? Then you don't need this. And if you're not, then come with me.' " Tancredo said Thursday that the INS has the legal authority to act because he says only illegal immigrants have a need for the consular identification. He said the purpose of the letter is to embarrass the INS. "I know they're using any logic, as tortured as it possibly may be, to avoid doing their job," Tancredo said. "We all know they do not wish to do their job. It's a culture in the INS that I want to attack here.'' Tancredo said people who are in the country illegally should be arrested and "they should take them to start the process of deportation." The statements drew Tancredo yet another round of criticism in the wake of his attempt to get the INS to investigate the family of a Mexican-born student who admitted in newspaper articles that he was in the country illegally. "I think it's a scare tactic," Hudson said. "I think he's trying to exploit the issue and exploit himself as a champion of this cause. He has the luxury of making these outrageous statements. We, as a city, are dealing with the management of a very diverse population." Some immigrants at the consulate Thursday said Tancredo's statements could scare away Mexican nationals who need services. "Who will come if you know you'll be taken away?" said Martin Gutierrez of Denver, who has been in the United States for five years. "It's too dangerous." INS spokesman Bill Strassberger said the agency does not - and cannot - target gatherings of people for immigration checks without cause. "It's dangerous when anyone starts making an assumption that all of a particular nationality, or all of a particular group, are illegal and should be deported," Strassberger said in response to Tancredo's remarks. He said people often call the INS asking them to round up day laborers gathered in parking lots or others suspected of being illegal immigrants. Courts have ruled that type of targeted enforcement unconstitutional, he said. "We've had cases thrown out where we've stopped someone and not been able to articulate the specific reasons why," he said. Mexican Consul General Leticia Calzada said the Denver consulate, established in 1893, operates under authority of the 1963 Vienna Convention and the U.S.-Mexico Consular Convention of 1942. Calzada said 200 to 300 people visit the consulate every day, seeking help with passports, identification and a host of other services. She would not directly respond to Tancredo's latest statements. "I don't have any opinion," she said. "All the opinions of the congresspersons of the United States have my respect - all the members. There is a voice maybe that is different . . . . It's only one voice among many other voices that are having good comments about what we are doing."
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If someone can find an email for the mayor, we can give him some constructive feedback.
What's really shocking here is the lack of reaction to this blatant threat to national security out of Washington. This phony ID crap should have been nipped in the bud the moment it surfaced. Tancredo is right; the bearers of these cards should be arrested and held until their immigration status is checked. If they are found to be here illegally, they should be immediately removed without benefit of hearings, trials, etc. If they have kids who are jackpot babies, offer them a free ride to the border at taxpayers expense, too. That way we can't be accused of "separating families," or any other smarmy malarkey.
Mexico which has one of the most corrupt systems in the world, almost any government official can be easily bribed has control over our national security and can decide who comes into this country. It's a joke to believe they wouldn't sell these cards to terrorists if the bribe was right and demand that we accept these cards on whoever they decide.
Those fresh from the border might get scared. The longer-term illegals that know they have suck-ups like the Gephardt and Bush in their pocket would laugh at you.
What a damn idiot. This piece of garbage knows very well that INS can establish probable cause just by talking to them. There is nothing unconstitutional about starting a conversation with a person, then through the course of the conversation establishing that the person is illegal. I wish Mr assbugger was in my Sector, I'd take him around back and counsel him.
We are discussing the same INS that sent Mohammed Attah his visa 6 months after he crashed a plane in the world trade center? right? Does anyone expect the INS to really do anything except take thier divy of taxpayer money?
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