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President Bush and House conservatives are on a collision course over the contentious issue of immigration reform, Rep. Tom Tancredo (R.-Colo.) said Thursday. Tancredo, chairman of the House Immigration Reform Caucus and author of the REAL GUEST Act (HR 3333), said he expects Bush to embrace legislation drafted by Senators Teddy Kennedy (D.-Mass.) and John McCain (R.-Ariz.). Conservatives strongly oppose the bill, which Tancredo said is tantamount to amnesty. Tancredo’s bill instead focuses on enforcement, particularly on companies that employ illegal immigrants. He said once illegal workers are denied jobs, they will no longer flood into the United States. “If...

http://www.phxnews.com/fullstory.php?article=24691

Told three years ago to never darken the doorsteps of the White House again, Congressman Tom Tancredo suddenly is the toast of Washington. OK, that's pushing it, but more and more people want to hear from the Littleton Republican, who's been on a one-man crusade against illegal immigration since he was elected in 1998. Even Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman is saying nice things about him. Three years ago, the party was embarrassed by Tancredo, saying he didn't represent mainstream Republicans. But the winds are shifting. You can expect immigration reform to replace Social Security as the next big...

WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, known for his outspoken and sometimes outlandish views on immigration, will be in Utah later this month and agreed to debate his political rival, Rep. Chris Cannon. Cannon says he has more pressing engagements - working on the irrigation system at his home. Tancredo, a Colorado Republican and leading spokesman of the anti-immigration movement, was invited to the state by the group Utahns For Immigration Reform and Enforcement, or UFIRE, a group that battered Cannon over his immigration stance during his 2004 re-election bid. He agreed to spend Aug. 24 to 25 in the...

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Rep. Tom Tancredo is trying to become the Johnny Appleseed of the immigration reform movement. State to state, small town to small town, he's spreading the seeds for a national grass-roots movement. The question is whether he can make it grow beyond a core of die-hard local activists so that immigration issues - and maybe Tancredo himself - become serious factors in the 2008 presidential contest. With that in mind, the Littleton Republican on Wednesday wrapped up a two-day tour around the suburbs of Charleston, S.C. Tancredo got plenty of local media attention for the trip, which...

HANAHAN, S.C. - Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo told law enforcement officers that illegal immigrants are held to lower standards by the justice system than Americans. "An illegal alien actually has a different system of justice here," he said Tuesday in a speech to about 30 officers. "If you're here illegally, you can get a pass." Tancredo, from Colorado, has come under fire recently from some Hispanic groups for his calls for tougher immigration enforcement and a proposal to tax some of the money immigrants send outside U.S. borders. Hispanic and Islamic groups called for his resignation in a Denver protest...

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 03, 2005 Tough talk on illegal immigration Colorado congressman shares message of reform with local law enforcement officers BY NOAH HAGLUND Of The Post and Courier Staff HANAHAN--A Colorado congressman known for his hard-line stance on illegal immigration told a small crowd of police here Tuesday night that political correctness has made a very serious problem worse. "Even in your ranks, I know it's sensitive," Tom Tancredo, a fourth-term Republican from Colorado's 6th District, said in his address to the group of 30 or so at the Fraternal Order of Police's Tri-County Lodge No. 3 on Campbell Street....

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Rep. Tom Tancredo hoped to overcome his recent controversy and get back onto his immigration message today, when he brought his traveling road show to South Carolina. It's the third early presidential primary state Tancredo has visited this year, as he toys with the idea of a 2008 race. Tancredo was scheduled to speak today night before hundreds of members of the Fraternal Order of Police at a hall outside Charleston. He hopes to keep the topic to immigration reform, but he is still facing an international outcry over his recent comments suggesting the United States could...

Mehlman says Republican Party backs Tancredo The Associated Press COLORADO SPRINGS — The chairman of the Republican Party said Friday the party backs Rep. Tom Tancredo, despite rifts the Colorado congressman has created with some Hispanic groups. “The fact is, we’re a big-tent party. I’m proud that we have debate in our party. I think debating the way to protect our borders and protect our national security is a good thing. I believe in a big public debate,” Ken Mehlman said. Mehlman said if Tancredo is nominated for a fifth term, the party will back him. That’s a sharp change...

While refusing to dialogue with his most vocal Islamic critics, U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo met with a select group of Muslims to clarify his remarks about threatening to target holy sites in response to a terrorist nuclear attack. The Colorado Republican was visited Wednesday by a three-member delegation from the Free Muslims Coalition, a group urging mainstream Muslims to take a stronger stand against terrorists. The coalition's president, Kamal Nawash, told the Rocky Mountain News after the meeting, "To the extent anyone was insulted by his comments, [Tancredo] said he's sorry about that." "It confirmed what we always believed. He's...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO) denounced the Republican elite’s emerging campaign to outmaneuver the party’s base on the issue of immigration control and border security. Former high-level officials at the RNC and the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign are orchestrating a multi-million dollar effort on behalf of big business to sell the President’s illegal alien amnesty plan, The Los Angeles Times reported this morning. “Let me get this straight. Our most loyal supporters give up their vacations to walk door-to-door for our Republican candidates. They hand out bumper stickers and put out yard signs. They convince coworkers which way to...

When U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., suggested that bombing Mecca might be an appropriate response to the terrorist threat, he sent shock waves around the world. And he thrilled many of his supporters. I heard from dozens of nuke-happy Tancredo fans, though not all of them had the courage to sign their names. From Don MacEwan: "Islam was and is the religion of terror. ... Putting forth a warning to Islam that mutually assured destruction means their holy city of Medina is nuked if they do not curb their terrorist urges seems to be a prudent step." From Cynthia J....

Hispanic, Islamic Groups Want Tancredo Out By STEVEN K. PAULSONAssociated Press Writer Hispanic and Islamic groups called on Rep. Tom Tancredo to resign Monday, saying he has embarrassed Colorado by suggesting bombing Islamic holy sites if terrorists launch a nuclear attack on the U.S. They also criticized the GOP congressman's staunch advocacy of tougher immigration controls. "Enough is enough. We're here to say 'Stop,'" Hispanic activist Manolo Gonzalez-Estay told a crowd of about 200 at the state Capitol. Abdur-Rahim Ali, imam of a Muslim shrine in Denver, said Tancredo's statement that "you could take out" Islamic holy sites in...

Vote NO on this MSNBC poll asking whether Congressman Tancredo should resign. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8704295/ Vote NO thanks :)

I often write columns criticizing President Bush for being a typical big-government, inside- the-Beltway politician. Every time I do, I get an e-mail from some bonehead who concludes that anyone criticizing George W. Bush must be a liberal Democrat. This is a common misconception and one that Tom Tancredo is straightening out quite nicely. Tancredo is the Colorado congressman who until last week was famous for being the leading advocate of enforcing immigration laws, thus earning a permanent place on the Bush enemies list. Last week he became famous for something else: Tancredo proposed that we inform the fundamentalist Muslims...

It is probably not a good idea in terms of job security to publicly call your boss a horse's ass. So have some sympathy for Will Adams, spokesman for Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo. He was asked by reporters to explain the asinine thing the congressman said last week. Adams told them Tancredo is just a "free thinker." By which standard Michael Jackson is just a tad eccentric. Or haven't you heard? Tancredo thinks maybe the United States should bomb Mecca. You know Mecca. City in Saudi Arabia. Birthplace of the prophet Muhammad. Holiest shrine of Islam, a religion practiced by...

By now, many people in America - and likely around the world - are familiar with my statements regarding a possible response to a nuclear attack on U.S. cities by fundamentalist Islamic terrorists. Without question, my comments have prompted strong reactions from many quarters, but they have also served to start a national dialogue about what options we have to deter al-Qaeda and other would-be Islamic terrorists. Many critics of my statements have characterized them as "offensive," and indeed they may have offended some. But in this battle against fundamentalist Islam, I am hardly preoccupied with political correctness, or who...

Words of war July 24, 2005 THE TWO leaders of the West's struggle against Islamic terrorism, President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain, rightly emphasize that just a small minority of Muslims embrace terror acts. It is crucial in the struggle against terrorism for mainstream Muslims to isolate and turn against those who kill innocents in the name of their faith. This is why it was so dismaying when a Colorado congressman talked about bombing Islamic holy sites to avenge a hypothetical nuclear attack by terrorists -- as if the faith itself were at fault. Osama bin Laden...

Congressman John D. Dingell (MI-15), the Dean of the House of Representatives, condemned the recent comments made by Representative Tom Tancredo (CO-06) as “ignorant” and “inexcusable” for a Member of Congress. During a recent interview on Tampa radio station WFLA-AM, Mr. Tancredo said that the US might “take out (Muslim) holy sites” in response to another terrorist attack on the US. When asked if he meant Mecca, Congressman Tancredo responded “yeah.” Said Dingell, “First of all, suggesting the bombing of a holy site of any religion is simply inexcusable for an elected official in the United States Congress and an...

Tom Tancredo has been called a one-trick pony of a politician, a man out of step with his party, a bigot. The Republican congressman vehemently opposes illegal immigration, and he created an uproar last week when he talked about nuking Muslim holy sites."Unless I misread the political tea leaves, there is a great deal of support for what I say," Tancredo said.Experts say Tancredo has no chance at the White House, but like Ross Perot's campaign on a balanced budget in 1992, he has found an issue that could force other Republicans to treat immigration as a major issue.

DENVER - Tom Tancredo has been called a one-trick pony of a politician, a man out of step with his party, a bigot. The Republican congressman vehemently opposes illegal immigration, and he created an uproar last week when he talked about nuking Muslim holy sites. No matter, Tancredo is pressing on and even hinting at a long-shot presidential bid in 2008. Tancredo has already visited New Hampshire and Iowa this year, and says he found a welcome audience among voters who are fed up with the nation's immigration policies, including proposals by President Bush. "Unless I misread the political tea...

Muslims' response to Tancredo muted An expert says the remark about bombing holy sites isn't linked to the military or Bush, preventing a furor like that over Koran abuse. By Mike Soraghan Denver Post Staff Writer Washington - When Rep. Tom Tancredo talked last week of bombing Mecca if Muslim terrorists set off nuclear devices inside the United States, the comments went beyond his audience of talk-radio enthusiasts. They wound up being discussed on the jihadist website al Ansar wal Sunni, a chat room frequented by Islamic extremists. "We told you so," the chat- room moderator wrote, according to a...

Tom Tancredo is to columnists as manna was to the Israelites. A gift from God. So outlandish has he become. Unfortunately, there is nothing sustaining or nourishing about what Tancredo has to say. This does not keep us from writing and him from making headlines for comments condemned internationally as inflammatory, misguided and irresponsible. In other words, typical Tancredo. He insists he will not apologize for suggesting in response to a Florida talk show radio host's question that bombing Muslim holy sites might be an appropriate response - "the ultimate response" - to a terrorist nuclear attack in the United...

KUWAIT CITY - Muslims from Indonesia to the Middle East on Wednesday labeled as aggressive and irresponsible a U.S. congressman's suggestion that the United States could "take out" Islamic holy sites if Muslim attackers targeted America in a nuclear strike. Some demanded an apology. Many said the comments fuel Islamic extremism and leave Muslims feeling Americans equate terrorists with all of Islam. "American mentality imagines that a religion is attacking another religion, and here lies the danger," said Syrian political analyst Ahmed al-Haj Ali. He called it "frightening" to "retaliate against the birthplace of Islam for individual criminal acts or...

Tancredo's "off-cuff" talk off the wall By Diane Carman Denver Post Columnist Colorado U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo was just talking "off-cuff." It was "an extremely hypothetical situation." Everybody knows he's the kind of guy who "thinks out loud." I was positively dizzy from the spin. It was as if press secretary Will Adams was channeling Scott McClellan. "You're talking about bombing Mecca," the WFLA-AM talk-show host in Florida said to Tancredo on Friday. "Yeah," said the Littleton Republican, who's never been accused of sensitivity. Adams tried to equivocate: There's a "widespread misconception about what he said. Congressman Tancredo is not...

Clinton speaks before Hispanic civil rights conference From The Morning Call -- July 18, 2005 Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-NY, gestures while giving an address on the challenges of education for the nation's growing Hispanic community, Monday, July 18, 2005, at the annual meeting of the National Council of La Raza, in Philadelphia. (PA Photo/Joseph Kaczmarek) The Morning Call Speaking to the nations' largest Hispanic civil rights organization, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., received a standing ovation Monday when she vowed her support for legislation that would allow illegal immigrant high school students to attend college. Clinton made her remarks...

Many people have been burning up the phone lines to the show today, and firing off e-mails, about a radio interview Tom Tancredo did yesterday with WFLA host Pat Campbell. One of the main complaints made against Hugh today has been that Tancredo's comments were not made in context. Here's a link to WFLA's site, where the audio from the original interview is posted. Listen for yourself. Here's the text of what Pat Campbell asked him, and what he said: PC: Now here's the other thing, too, with the possibility of an attack. I had Juval Aviv on the program...

There has been much speculation about what Tom Tancredo said on the now famous interview last Friday on WFLA-AM in Orlando, Fla. From what I am reading here on FR, much of that speculation is wrong. Tancredo was, in fact, suggesting that we consider (not implement, just consider implementing) a strategy similar to the strategy that Reagan used to win the Cold War. Listen for yourself. HERE If you think Tancredo is a nut case, and you don't want to change your thinking, move along, this clip isn't for you. Just post your thoughts without listening.

Exclusive: US Representative Tom Tancredo in Response to U.S. Nuke Threat: We Could Nuke Mecca15 July 2005: He is a no-nonsense House Representative from Colorado, a staunch critic of the federal government's lax immigration and border enforcement policies, and one who recognizes the clear and present threat posed by Islamic terrorists inside the United States. In an exclusive interview today with Pat Campbell, host of AM 540 WFLA said yesterday he would request a briefing from the Justice Department on information it has on plans revealed by WND this week for a nuclear attack on the U.S. by al-Qaeda....

Clarifying remarks from a radio interview that drew praise from some supporters, Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., said he was not suggesting that the U.S. should nuke the Islamic holy site Mecca as a response to a nuclear homeland attack by al-Qaida. The congressman's press secretary told WorldNetDaily the comments were an off-the-cuff response to a hypothetical situation. "He doesn't believe that we should go out and threaten to bomb anybody's holy city," said spokesman Will Adams. In the interview this morning with Pat Campbell of WFLA radio in Orlando, Tancredo discussed his request for a briefing from the Justice Department...

Tancredo to request al-Qaida nuke briefing Congressman to ask Justice Department for report on 'American Hiroshima' plan -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: July 13, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com WASHINGTON – Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., a staunch critic of the federal government's lax immigration and border enforcement policies, said yesterday he would request a briefing from the Justice Department on information it has on plans revealed by WND this week for a nuclear attack on the U.S. by al-Qaida terrorists. Rep. Tom Tancredo Tancredo said he was greatly alarmed by the report and would seek whatever information he could get from...

Despite his four trips to early primary and caucus states this year, Rep. Tom Tancredo is not running for president -- yet.But unless he can force what he called "the top-tier candiddates, the guys with all the money, all the stature" in the Republican primary to take a strong position on cracking down on illegal immigration and lowering legal immigration, that is exactly what Mr. Tancredo told several audiences in Iowa this past weekend he will do."My task is to get one of them to take this on," Mr. Tancredo told about 50 members of the Christian Coalition of Iowa,...

'snip'.....Tancredo created a buzz of his own. He got enough standing ovations from hard-core conservative Iowa voters that it should worry any top-tier presidential hopefuls who thought they could get through 2008 without touching the immigration hot-button.Tancredo has visited New Hampshire and now Iowa, seeing how his hard line against illegal immigration plays in the two early presedential primary states. He's testing the waters for a possible presedential run of his own, but his real goal is to turn his pet issue into something akin to abortion in past campaigns - a big deal that nobody is allowed to ignore.Even...

FAIR Press Release: Former Mexican Foreign Minister Demands Open Border for Migrants In Exchange for Cooperation on Security at Congressional Hearing Members of U.S. Congress Offer No Reaction to Blackmail On Tuesday, four days after the bombings on the London transit system refocused Congress and the American public on the threat of global terrorism, former Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing that "No border security is possible without Mexican cooperation" and that "there can be no cooperation [from the Mexican government] without some sort of immigration reform package." Castaneda, now a professor at New...

Bush Encouraged Illegal Aliens, Congressman Says By Jeff Johnson CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer June 29, 2005 (CNSNews.com) -- The co-sponsor of legislation to make it more difficult for illegal aliens to find work in the United States said Tuesday that the Bush administration is encouraging the illegal entry by offering amnesty and is trying to cover up the proof of its actions. U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) has consistently warned that the "Temporary Worker Program," proposed by President Bush in January, would, "encourage millions of people to come here illegally seeking his amnesty proposal." The White House denies that the...

Bush's guest-worker proposal lured illegal entrants, poll says WIRE REPORTS President Bush's proposal for a guest-worker program encouraged some people to enter the United States unlawfully because they believed they would be allowed to participate, according to a poll of illegal entrants detained by the Border Patrol. Sixty-one percent of about 870 illegal entrants arrested by Border Patrol agents said they had heard of the program, and 45 percent said it influenced their decision to come to America illegally, according to the January survey. The results were released Tuesday by Judicial Watch, a public-policy group that obtained the documents as...

Ask and they shall recieve.That's how Congressman Tom Tancredo responds to questions about manpower shortages at Immigration and Customs Enforcement. While officials with ICE say they have too few resources, Tancredo says ICE won't ask for the resources it needs.Tancredo concedes ICE doesn't have enough manpower to enforce the nation's immigration laws. "They also don't have very much of a desire to do it," he said."I guarantee if they ever come to Congress and asked for it, they'd get it," Tancredo said.The Littleton Republican blames President George W. Bush for limiting the number of agents working for ICE and the...