Posted on 08/16/2003 7:09:51 PM PDT by VU4G10
Illegal immigration into the United States threatens the future of the nation, a Colorado congressman told Mesa County Republicans on Friday. U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Centennial, drew two standing ovations from about 100 Republicans, even though he acknowledged his stand on illegal immigration runs counter to that of the party's leader, President Bush. Forcing a national debate over illegal immigration transcends party loyalty though, he said. At issue, he said, isn't so much whether the United States will have a Balkanized future, but whether it will have a future as a nation at all. Illegal immigration combined with "the cult of multiculturalism" and the welfare state threaten to undermine and bankrupt American institutions, he said. Tancredo joked that he actually was on his way to California to get in on the governor's race. In an exclusive interview with The Daily Sentinel, however, he said the stakes actually are a bit higher than a governor's race. He has visited California on several occasions with the hope of forcing illegal immigration to a top-level issue in the 2004 presidential race. One vehicle, he said, might be a referendum in the nation's most populous state that would limit access to any government services to citizens or legal residents only. "Even if I'm 180 degrees wrong," he said, "the subject at least deserves a debate." Tancredo said he advocates securing the nation's southern border using a 20,000-strong Border Patrol combined with high-tech equipment to prevent illegal border crossings. A guest-worker program might be in order for industries that couldn't otherwise find employees, but no such program could work without a secure border, he said. It's particularly important to secure the border, he said, because it isn't used only by Mexicans seeking employment. "Huge numbers" of Middle-Easterners frequently cross the border, often helped by Mexican drug gangs who charge $30,000 for the use of their expertise, he said. "I don't blame them," he said of illegal immigrants looking north for opportunity, but he noted the Mexican government relies heavily on money sent by illegal immigrants to their relatives to bolster the economy. That amounts to about $10 billion a year, a third of the Mexican gross domestic product, he said. Tancredo urged the Mesa County Republicans to insist that all candidates be held to account on illegal-immigration issues. Even if offices such as city council or county commissioner seem to have little to do with illegal immigration, candidates still should be forced to take a position. "Get them on record," he said.
A guest worker program that precludes familes and children.
It's the cost to provide public services to the children (and the anchor babies) that is bankrupting California.
I faxed the information to US Border Patrol, the office that is in the EXACT SAME TOWN the illegal alien resides.
Two weeks later, I faxed this same information to Tancredo's office after Border Patrol did NOTHING.
To my knowledge, NOTHING has happened. It is more than 1 month since the first fax to Border Patrol.
So ... what specifically has Tancredo done as a legislator during this two year period sounding the alarm during his countless appearances on radio and TV?
One vehicle, he said, might be a referendum in the nation's most populous state that would limit access to any government services to citizens or legal residents only."
Hello? We tried that? It was called Prop. 187, and some rotten vermin of a federal judge overturned it because it was "unconstutional". I can't even think about it for too long or my head will explode.
So ... why wasn't that finding appealed? Who is responsible for representing the voters of California? Bill Lockyear? Why hasn't he appealed the case? Why haven't y'all organized and crawled up his ass until he does his duty as a Constitutional Officer and Officer of the Court? Why did it just stop there?
So, some LA judge put a stay on the regulation. That happens. That's why there are courts of appeal, how did millions of Californians sit back while their legally presented, legitimately approved public will be thwarted by one unaccountable jurist?
I've never understood why these mandates, approved by millions of Californians, are allowed to be nullified by the fiat of a single judge.
What am I missing?
That's not work, that's not HIS duty.
Again, what specific legislation has Tom Tancredo introduced to address this crisis he shouts to the masses on radio and cable gigs?
I don't give a crap about his insights if he's not willing or able to shepherd corrective legislation.
Again, what has he done as a $150,000 per year Congressman to address this issue?
What action plan do you recommend to get this under control?
Tancredo wants 20,000 Border Guards on the Mexican border. At $50,000 per, that's $1 billion in salaries and benefits. Add $10,000 more for training, that's another $200 million, they're going to need vehicles, comunications infrastructure, processing stations and holding cells to be build all along the border.
So, is Tancredo crafting a bill authorizing this major deployment? Has he determined an adequate funding appropriation number? Has he lobbied DeLay, Hastert or the relevant Appropriation chairman to get a hearing, a markup, a place in the docket? Does he have 218 votes for this proposal, at this $billion investment?
Nah, he just thought he'd throw it out as a good idea that George W. Bush should, but won't, implement. Even though it's HIS job to write bills with appropriate funding with the language and details that 218 of his colleagues would vote approval for.
That's hard work. That takes salesmanship, compromise, building consensus, making tradeoffs and fighting for money. Tom's got the Boortz show, Buchanan and Press and Larry Elder gigs to focus on. It's about Tom Tancredo's earnest concern. It's about Tom Tancredo.
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