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.

[FreedomFriend]

Sheesh, you're close to Chambodia. Norcrea is not far behind. It's as if many Asian people do not want to assimilate either. Check out Buford Highway. In Cobb County, it's primarily Mexican illegals. The same goes for Fulton, Cherokee, and most of the rest of the metro.

I live in southern Cobb County, so our communities are slowly being flushed down the toilet. All of them with the exception of Vinings, the East-West Connector corridor, as well as parts of Powder Springs.

[Oregon Coast Conservative]

There is nothing wrong with people working here Dane, the problem is we have to have some control over who comes in and how many. Or would you prefer that we just get rid of our border control completly, and allow anyone that wants to come here to do so. I hope your ready to give up your house, job, environment for it, cause they aren't getting mine without a fight.

[Happygal]

I live in a country that is trying to import workers at the moment. IRELAND. Yes a country, that exported workers left right and center through the ages through poverty.

Now we can't get qualified workers.

YES, we have an immigration problem from Romania, Nigeria, the Ukraine. (Many of them qualified professionals in their own country) But they cannot work in their field here because..they are automatically classified as spongers.

Yup, I agree, there are many who are. But NOT every single person who sits/and nearly suffocates in the back of a trailer to eek out a better life for themselves is a sponger off the system. I was served a drink tonight by a surgeon...he was from the Eastern block, but needed to get towards a free life for his family. What the hell is wrong with that?

BTW..I'm an Irish girl, 30 next week, qualified journalist with over 10 years experience, and quite conservative. Do you think Dubya's gonna hand me a work permit to get into your country? No.

Mores to the point, would you give me one? Probably.

[I_Love_My_Husband]

What's bad about it is that AMERICANS aren't doing it! Americans WORK you know!

[sarcasm]

We'll either have a tax increase or budget deficits to pay for this - the last amnesty cost the taxpayers almost $ 80 billion in the first ten years.

[Brownie74]

Shouldn't AIT come back to the states and do one of those jobs. You should be calling him a traitor with the rhetoric you spew.

What part of "Hell, I don't care what he does" don't you understand. Are your panties in a wad again tonight sweetie?

Take two Midol and call me in the morning.

[Egg]

Now you're lying (why am I not surprised). I posted his very words: illegal Mexican. Admit it, Dane--you just have a problem with the concept of a border.

[sarcasm]

Tancredo is now on WABC.

[Dane]

You advocate sentencing taxpaying American citizens to prison time under the most nightmarish conditions imaginable if they're caught with a little bit of pot, but at the same time you defend foreigners (many of whom are likely to have been involved in smuggling that same pot), who come here illegally, waste our tax dollars and social services, and who, ultimately, vote for more socialism.

I ask you Dane, are you evil, or just retarded?

LOL! I think there is a new trend here on FR. Libertarians who the only things they like Mexican, is the pot.

[Vast Buffalo Wing Conspiracy]

Lawlady, if it is any consolidation, nearly every construction worker in the metro Atlanta area is an illegal Mexican.

And those workers being Mexican is bad, how?

ROFLMAO!!!! It's like Danevogado has a mental or visual impairment which prevents him from seeing the word "illegal". He/she/it just doesn't see it! It's as though the word didn't exist! Poof! Gone! Never even existed in the first place! Not gonna discuss it! A nonissue, it's!

Of course either Danevogado has a complete lack of understanding of economic theory and history, or he/she/it is the modern day avatar of a 19th century mill owner, constantly importing a new boatload of immigrants to break the unions and depress the wages of native workers. And they can buy your apples and your lettuce at your company store, too, Danevogado! And be arrested by the company town police for organizing or protesting! And if they don't like it, they can starve! It's a "free" country, after all, isn't it?

[sarcasm]

Dane has a problem with the concept of the truth.

[WDG55513]

Dane--you just have a problem with the concept of a border.

Nah. She just has a problem with anyone disagreeing with her Lord and Savior George W. Christ. If Dubya wanted to deport all illegals, she'd be here cheering along with the rest of us.

[Michael2001]

The fact that this is coming from a Republican partyis the scariest thing. They are no longer my party.

[Joe Hadenuf]

That's right, if Bush pulls this bull sh*t, he might as well declare war on the American people.

Its absolutely offensive that he would even consider amnesty for millions of criminals.

This government sponsored, titanic invasion of illegal aliens has been going on for decades now.

And now they have the nerve to even consider amnesty in the middle of this immigration disaster? Insanity....

[WDG55513]

LOL! I think there is a new trend here on FR. Libertarians who the only things they like Mexican, is the pot

Huh?

First of all, you're a liar. I'm not a Libertarian, never claimed to be one. You just made that up right here.

Second, who likes Mexican pot? Ugh.

[Joe Hadenuf]

LOL! BINGO.

[Reaganwuzthebest]

That 1986 amnesty was a huge mistake. You think the republicans would have learned from that, but they've been giving out mini amnesties right along. I think in 1998 they had one for Central Americans. I still remember George senior signing the Immigration Bill of 1990 which raised legal immigration through the roof, up to nearly a million. Both parties are in on the scam that's wiping out communities. I don't know about the present, but this can't go on forever. People will eventually rise up on this, I bet on it.

[Egg]

Suppose YOU tell some of the friends of AmericanInTokyo who spent hundreds of dollars and waited months to legally emigrate to the United States, or who brought spouses from Japan and went through all of the legal channels, what they think of your friend Bush's victory today.

Everyone who used the correct legal channels to immigrate here and their sponsors should file a class action lawsuit against the US government (INS) for a refund of both filing fees and attorney's fees. If we can't make them listen to us, we'll force their hand.

[Regulator]

You're right. The spinning is already underway. Newsmax.com is posting a CNSnews.com story where they blame the DEMOCRATS for bringing this up. Not one mention of Bush and his lobbying, or about Fox. You KNOW that in English media they will be doing this, with Bush evading the question, and in the Spanish media it will be "Viva Jorge, El Salvador de Los Immigrantes!".