What Are the Candidates Saying about Immigration? Tancredo on Immigration Reform

Amy Taylor

What Are the Candidates Saying about Immigration? Tancredo on Immigration Reform

The Colorado Congressman from Littleton announced his intention to run for President in late January even though he has no intention of becoming the President of the United States. You can watch his announcement here. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) is running because he is keeping good on an old promise he made to run for president if other candidates didn't make immigration a top priority -- and he is doing just that. "I operate under no illusions of being nominated, but I could influence the direction of the debate." He launched his campaign this year, "Tom Tancredo 2008 for a Secure America," with its number one issue: securing our borders.

Tom Tancredo is angry about immigrants. He has said they, specifically the undocumented kind, are "a scourge that threatens the very future of our nation." Tancredo is also adamantly set on the notion that immigrants who come here today are not assimilating. "We have a cult of multiculturalism. This is what permeates our society... Immigrants who come to the United States but refuse to assimilate by learning the language and following the laws water down what it means to be an American... It's a cultural, political, linguistic tower of Babel." Tancredo supports the establishment of English as the official language of the United States. He says immigrants today are" not coming here to be American" like the immigrants of the past. One of the purported reasons he changed careers from a school teacher to a politician was his anger over the creation of bilingual programs in his school. His criticisms of immigrants reached xenophobic heights when he recently stated that Miami resembled a third world country because of its immigrant population.

Tancredo was the chair of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus from its inception in 1999 through this month. Its chief agenda is to push for restrictionist immigration policies. All but two of its members are Republican and most are to the far right of their party. Some critics say that because the group's proposals are so far out of the mainstream they have been unsuccessful in getting the national party to adopt their recommendations while others credit the caucus with many of the ultimate provisions of the immigration bill passed by the House last Spring. Some of their recommendations in the past have included reducing visa numbers for refugees and denying U.S. citizenship to babies born to undocumented immigrants on U.S. soil (in defiance of the U.S. Constitution). Tancredo stepped down from his chairmanship this month stating that he would like to see "new blood" in its leadership.

Securing the border with Mexico is Tancredo's main focus. Of course, he won a big victory in December when the Secure Fence Act of 2006 was signed into law -- a scheme he had been touting for some time (he spearheaded the vote on the legislation). He has been a longtime advocate of increasing our spending on border security and hiring more Border Patrol agents. What he would really like to see is the construction of a fence along the entire border. He supports the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants and is a staunch opponent of most guest workers programs (although his own legislation had a restrictive version of one outlined below) out of his belief that they reward lawbreaking immigrants. Tancredo is out to convince Americans that immigrants drain our social services. He has spoken out against spending taxpayer money on education, healthcare and other state and local services for undocumented immigrants. Needless to say he is adamantly opposed to any program that would offer a path to legalization for undocumented immigrants who are already here -- which he calls "amnesty" across the board.

Tancredo is a big supporter of increasing crackdowns on businesses that hire undocumented immigrants. Not surprisingly, he commended Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on their recent tide of workplace raids. In fact, he went so far as to send a letter to Julie Myers, the ICE assistant secretary, urging her to expand the raids to other industries. He has supported legislation to increase fines on employers who hire undocumented workers, toughen penalties for smugglers, and impose automatic deportation on immigrants apprehended on the border.

Tancredo is considered far out of the mainstream by Democrats and Republicans alike. He has been an outspoken critic of his colleagues on both sides of the aisle and the President for not being tough enough on the issue of illegal immigration. He finds his only allies on the fringes of the debate. In fact, I took a look into who his allies actually are. One of Tancredo's biggest donors is the family of Dr. John Tanton, founder and board member of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), a group considered on the fringe by most involved in the immigration debate for their xenophobic ads and thier focus on eliminating illegal immigration as well as promoting English as the national language of the United States. FAIR blames immigrants for crime, poverty, disease and even traffic and sprawl. The treasurer of Tancredo's Presidential campaign is Kenneth C. McAlpin who was a former deputy director at FAIR, and is the executive director of ProEnglish, a group that advocates making English the official language of the U.S.

I dug a little deeper into FAIR only to find that the group had ties to the Pioneer Fund, a fund established for the sole purpose of promoting research into Eugenics (although FAIR now say ties have been severed). FAIR's Executive Director, Dan Stein, was quoted as calling China's forced abortion policy "international family planning" and has warned that certain immigrant groups are engaged in "competitive breeding" aimed at diminishing white power. Tanton himself is known for an op-ed he wrote which compared immigrants to bacteria.

Since 9/11 Tancredo's attempts to connect immigrants and terrorists have escalated beyond traditional restrictionist talk. Tancredo has been pushing the connection between U.S. border policy and terrorism, without facts to back it up, by making constant allusions to terrorists crossing the border. "We're not just simply opening borders for (illegal workers), we're opening borders for people who are coming here to kill us." When the Bank of America announced its plan last week to offer credit cards to people without Social Security numbers, Tancredo's initial response was that the bank might be aiding terrorists. He once characterized the "war on terrorism" as being against all Muslims. "I believe that what we are fighting here is not just a small group of people who have hijacked a religion, but it is a civilization bent on destroying ours." He suggested that Muslim holy sites should be bombed in response to any future terrorist attacks.

One way to understand Tancredo's ideal view of immigration reform is to look at the legislation he introduced in July of 2005, the Rewarding Employers that Abide by the Law and Guaranteeing Uniform Enforcement to Stop Terrorism (REAL GUEST) Act of 2005 (HR 3333). This bill would have, among other things, made unlawful presence a felony, deputized local law enforcement to enforce immigration laws and required hospitals treating undocumented immigrants who seek reimbursement from Emergency Medicaid to report such information to DHS. The bill was also very focused on increasing technology and surveillance to reduce the overall flow of immigrants to the U.S. by "sealing the border" and implementing a policy of mass deportation. The bill created a temporary worker program more temporary in nature than anything realistically on the table today. Tancredo's proposal would have allowed workers outside of the U.S., after a complex screening process, to enter the U.S. for no more than one year to work. After that time, they would have to leave the U.S. for another year before being eligible to return. Employers would have to show not just that no U.S. worker could be found for the job (a requirement in most temporary worker proposals) but also that no U.S worker could be trained in under a year for the position. These temporary workers would not be eligible to adjust their status to other than temporary worker while in the U.S. and the legislation stated that children born to these workers on U.S. soil would not be U.S citizens.

Last Spring Tancredo voted in favor of The Border Protection, Anti-terrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act (also known as "the House bill"). Not only has Tancredo been a major sponsor and supporter of draconian legislation in the House, but he has threatened to attempt to block any reform at all if it is not his style of reform. In March of last year, Tancredo, along with 70 other members of the House, sent a letter to Arlen Specter (R-PA) then chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which was, at the time, debating comprehensive immigration reform measures. The letter called many of the pending legislative proposals in the Senate "thinly disguised attempts to provide amnesty" and warned that if any of these proposals came out of the committee it would "doom any chance of a real reform bill reaching the President's desk this year."

Tancredo calls his approach "common sense." He is right that our current system just is not working. He is right that the system today favors corporate interests. But a common sense approach says that we should prioritize an immigration reform policy that will maintain our robust economy (held up by immigrant labor, consumers and entrepeneurs) and help middle class Americans keep jobs that allow them to earn a middle class standard of living. His assertion that ending illegal immigration is good for our country, let alone possible, is absurd. And his xenophobia only serves to divide us, rather than unite against corporate domination in this sphere. He encourages people to ask candidates about immigration, and I thank him for that. Perhaps he will bring more focus to the issue of immigration in all of the campaigns. Let's hope that his proposals do not shift the debate away from enacting practical progressive reform.

For the rest of the posts in this series on where the candidates stand on immigration reform, please click here.

Comments

For more on the anti-immigrant crew's attack on babies read this piece today on Altenet.org by Priscilla Huang

http://alternet.org/rights/48284/

Posted by: elana | February 21, 2007 10:52 AM

I came to America legally and it took me six years, even with a Phd. Bush secretly agreed to the (NAU) North American union and the Mex-Canadian corridor to expedite his Free trade Agenda, for the huge Multi International Corporations and the wealthy elite. It would allow the free flow of cheap labor into the United states. I think an armed conflict is coming when Federal agents use Eminent Domain to take Texan Land for the Super highway. This is when the first shot will be fired, this will be the inception of the Second Civil war.

Posted by: Dave | February 21, 2007 07:39 PM

An obvious racist article written by someone who does not have a clue about who Tancredo is, or his history. The clues are as obvious as his lack of writing skills. We are back to turning illegal aliens into instant immigrants. The fact that all of us, even Indians were immigrants is a red herring meant to justify Latin American violation of our laws. Based upon that logic, breaking modern banking laws and ignoring current tax codes could be justified by the fact that prior past practices, while unethical years ago, were not illegal. At one time American Indians roasted their enemies over an open fire. Could Indians justify the renewal of such a practice today based upon history? We cannot use history to justify breaking current law.

The American people, for whatever reason, expressed their will by using the democratic process to make it illegal to cross our borders without their permission. This an irrefutable fact that the advocacy groups cannot deny. Let's not let the ignorant obfuscating bastards distract us from the truth, and from preventing us from our goal of eradicating mass illegal migration.

Posted by: John Campbell | February 21, 2007 09:34 PM

Where did you folks get this idiot Amy Taylor? Talk about STUPID...I have never seen anybody as stupid as Amy Taylor.

For your information, Ms. Taylor, the LAW SAYS that entering this country is a CRIME and anybody who commits a crime is a CRIMINAL. The law SAYS that anybody here illegally is to be deported PERIOD!!! That is the way it should be. The ONLY reason we have so many illegal alien criminals and their anchor babies is because the laws against illegal invaders are NOT enforced.

It is a CRIME for these illegal alien criminals to work here and it is a CRIME for any employer to hire these freeloading criminals. What part of illegal don't you understand? Do you advocate crime and criminal activity? No amnesty, no way...not now, not ever!!!

My former-illegal alien mexican ex-hubby TOLD me many years ago, that he came here because he can make in 1 day here what he would make in 1 week in Mexico.

These criminals families in Mexico are NOT starving and there IS work but they QUIT THEIR JOBS IN MEXICO to come here to steal our good-paying jobs. They walk right by the factories in Mexico who are begging for workers, and head right on north to come here to bring diseases, crime, racism, vicious mistreatment of women and girls, and to freeload off the American taxpayer by fraudulently getting our U.S. citizens benefits such as welfare, food stamps, subsidized housing, SSI, etc.

They have an anchor baby on purpose just to get these benefits and to prevent these criminals rightful deportation because the crooked immigration judge will not permit the rightful deportation of these criminals.

They come here out of PURE GREED and for no other reason. They ALL need to be deported and permanently barred from our country. I have 20+ years experience with these people. I can tell you that Tom Tancredo is telling the absolute TRUTH and only the TRUTH. Better than listening to your lies, Ms. Taylor. Maybe you can stop lying long enough to tell the truth...

It is UNCONSTITUTIONAL to give automatic U.S. citizenship to the U.S.-born children of illegal alien criminal invaders. It is a DIRECT VIOLATION of the 14th Amendment to do so. Any law that gives U.S. citizenship to anchor babies of illegal aliens is illegal, null-and-void, and UNCONSTITUTIONAL as a DIRECT VIOLATION of the 14th Amendment. I don't know how STUPID you can be Ms. Taylor, but your stupidity takes the cake.

Senator Jacob M. Howard of Michigan, the author of the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment, SAID in 1866, when introducing the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Senate for a vote that automatic U.S. citizenship at birth did not include "persons who born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens". He further made it clear that the phrase "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" only applied to U.S. citizens and their U.S. citizen children as ONLY a U.S. citizen is "subject to the jurisdiction" of the U.S. and not the anchor baby nor his illegal alien parents. That is why, according to Senator Howard, ONLY the child of a U.S. citizen is an automatic U.S. citizen at birth. This is in the legislative records of the Senate debate of the time. Check it out for yourself.

Anchor babies are NOT U.S. citizens but rather, are illegal aliens subject to deportation. If this matter ever gets to the U.S. Supreme Court, they will have NO choice but to restore the ORIGINAL INTENTION of the 14th Amendment; which is what was passed into law.

Did you notice that there are 11+ million illegal alien criminals here yet the growers and farmers complain and whine that they cannot find any workers for to pick their crops? Why, you ask?

Because these freeloading parasites refuse to do farmwork any more and would rather steal our good-paying jobs because these freeloaders don't want to get their dainty little hands dirty.

We Americans do NOT want even one red cent of our hard-earned tax dollars to go to these freeloading, disease-ridden criminals. We want these freeloaders GONE...OUT OF OUR COUNTRY!!!

Here is the link for the 14th Amendment info about the 14th Amendment PROHIBITING citizenship to anchor babies of illegal alien invaders:

http://federalistblog.us/2005/12/birthright_citizenship_fable.html

Check it out for yourself.

My family helped found this country in 1776 and even fought in the Revolutionary War against England and I am related to President George Washington and Confederate General Robert E. Lee and I am also almost 40% American Indian and my Indian ancestors would not stand for illegal invaders trying to steal the land of our ancestors.

Posted by: Jean Harrell | February 22, 2007 12:08 AM

I hope he runs. The American people are tired of this whole illegal Alien issue.

Let Mexico and other Nations take care of their own problems,we are tired of bearing the burden of their poverty.

If these illegals would spent the energy marching in there own countries like they do in the US,they might be able to effect change, in their own Country.

Mr. Tancredo, would have my vote and there are millions more that will vote for him.

I say free up the money, and Build the Damn Fence already!

Posted by: Anna | February 22, 2007 08:45 AM

Ah yes!! The anti-immigration crew led by Tancredo would oppose abortion of illegal alien babies but would punish them after they are born..typical!!

Posted by: G. Chell | February 22, 2007 09:25 AM

YOU MUST BE PROFETING FROM THESE LAW BREAKERS, EITHER IN THE FORM OF UTILIZING THEIR CHEAP LABOR, OR PERFORMING SERVICES TO THEM AND GETTING A GOOD SALARY FOR IT!
IT IS SO TRANSPARENT IN YOYR WRITTING.

Posted by: doug P. | February 22, 2007 09:48 AM

wow. So I don't think its worth engaging in a debate with someone who calls people names.

Plenty of people argue over immigration policy without attacking the person writing it's personhood or heritage as you are doing by citing your own extraction.

Posted by: Elana | February 22, 2007 11:52 AM

Jean Harrell wrote:
For your information, Ms. Taylor, the LAW SAYS that entering this country is a CRIME

Well I hope Jean will have federal marshals waiting to arrest George W. Bush the next time he enters this country.

Why does Ms. Harrell hate the tourism industry so much?

Posted by: Matt Browner Hamlin | February 22, 2007 12:26 PM

Incidentally Robert E. Lee didn't fight to protect America, he fought to destroy the United States. Patriots don't secede from America. The secessionists were terrorists in their day.

Posted by: the truth about the civil war | February 22, 2007 12:30 PM

Tancredo is too hash on immigrants,his action will one
day come back to him so said the bible

Posted by: paul briggs | February 22, 2007 12:34 PM

Here is a press release of the self described: "largest and longest-running study of children of immigrants yet conducted". The researchers are Alejandro Portes of Princeton and Rub�n G. Rumbaut of UC Irvine.

Here is an excerpt:
"Differences in arrest and incarceration rates are also noteworthy, particularly among second-generation, U.S.-born, males. While only 10 percent of second-generation immigrant males in the survey had been incarcerated, that figure jumped to 20 percent among West Indian and Mexican American youths."
http://today.uci.edu/news/release_detail.asp?key=1529

Posted by: pjgoober | February 22, 2007 01:14 PM

So are you!! Dont you eat? Where do you think all the cheap American foods come from and why we pay cheaper prices for our products relative to the Europeans.

Posted by: G. Chell | February 22, 2007 01:25 PM

Tancredo should be arrested and tried for treason for speaking and supporting a group that advocates terrorism against our country..the League of the South!! He belongs in Gitmo not in the White House!!

Posted by: G. Chell | February 22, 2007 01:26 PM

"I am also almost 40% American Indian and my Indian ancestors would not stand for illegal invaders trying to steal the land of our ancestors."

If you have the claim to this land based on your Indian ancestry, so do the Hispanics who have Indian ancestry, perhaps more than you do!!

Posted by: George Chell | February 22, 2007 01:29 PM

"I hope he runs. The American people are tired of this whole illegal Alien issue.:

He is already running.

"Mr. Tancredo, would have my vote and there are millions more that will vote for him."

1% of the population so far. Very few whites will vote for someone with a name Tancredo. No Italian American has been elected President and it is not going to happen now!! You may have better luck with Duncan Hunter.

"I say free up the money, and Build the Damn Fence already!"

Union of Soviet Socialist American Republic!! Red States indeed!! Better dead than red!!

Posted by: G. Chell | February 22, 2007 01:32 PM

There have been many many comments from my post yesterday and I want to respond to a few of them.

Some of the writers have brought up anxieties that Americans are feeling throughout the country about job insecurity and economic instability. For example, Jean Harrell writes that immigrant workers are "stealing our good paying jobs" and Anna writes "Let Mexico and other Nations take care of their own problems,we are tired of bearing the burden of their poverty."

DMI's policy recommendations are based on an analysis of what type of reforms will benefit Americans who are struggling today to achieve economic security. We are not defending the status quo -- we do not think that the system in place today is working for anyone. What we have now is a "race to the bottom" where immigrant workers, because they live and work in an underground economy, DO affect wages and job opportunities of native-born workers. We are saying that we need to reform this system so that we all benefit.

It simply is not feasible to deport 12 million people -- nor would it be a good thing for our economy. Yes, immigrant labor is crucial to our economic strength but so are immigrant consumers (who buy our products and use our services), immigrant homebuyers and immigrant business owners. Even if we were able to deport them all, there would be fewer opportunities for all of us here. Furthermore, many studies have shown that immigrants use less in services than they pay in taxes. In fact, immigrant tax payers are crucial to keeping our Social Security system solvent as the baby boom generation begins to retire. Please read our report to get more data on this important point: http://drummajorinstitute.org/library/report.php?ID=21.

We do not advocate lawbreaking -- but the reality is that immigrants are coming here because there are jobs for them here. They are coming here because US employers lure them here for their own profit. No matter how much we focus on enforcement, immigrants will continue to come here. So instead of getting stuck on a debate about what is right and wrong, we are looking for a pragmatic solution to our current situation. How can we make the system a better one? We can pull immigrants out of the shadows so they dont have to accecpt sub-par wages and terrible working conditions. We can strengthen workplace rights so that immigrants and US workers alike can push for fair wages and workplace safety protections. This will ultimately drive up wages and make jobs more desirable. This will help all of us struggling to achieve economic security.

I think we all have much more in common with immigrant workers (and with each other) than we like to admit. Ultimately what we are all looking for is economic opportunity and stability in our lives, good schools and healthcare for our families. The corporate agenda has driven this debate for far too long -- they want immigrants here in the shadows because it will allow them to profit off of cheap labor. And that is harmful to all of our interests.

Posted by: Amy Taylor | February 22, 2007 03:30 PM

Beware Chell: He likes to troll various sites, spewing his pro-illegal alien nonsense and disparaging pro-enforcement politicians. "No Italian American has been elected President and it is not going to happen now!!" What does that say about the prospects of pro-illegal alien Barack HUSSEIN Obama?

Posted by: Tembi | February 22, 2007 04:44 PM

"Beware Chell: He likes to troll various sites, spewing his pro-illegal alien nonsense and disparaging pro-enforcement politicians. "No Italian American has been elected President and it is not going to happen now!!" What does that say about the prospects of pro-illegal alien Barack HUSSEIN Obama?"

Comment: If you have nothing to say other than this crap, you dont have much of any argument. I have never been pro-illegal but I will attack folks like Tancredo, who discover American workers when they attack immigrants but do not support and in fact bitterly oppose any increase in minimum wage. Interesting none of you who support Tancredo bring up this issue which makes me think that race is an issue here. By bringing up American workers while attacking immigrants, illegal and legal alike, but not supporting minimum wage, Tancredo, Hunter and others of their ilk have shown what they are..plain racists. It is very interesting that organizations such as FAIR and CIS are only interested in American workers when dark skinned alien neighbors move in, but have nothing to say about outsourcing or minimum wage increase...so much for the American worker. If you are concerned about American workers support Jim Webb, Claire McCaskill, Nancy Boyda, Heath Schuler or Brad Ellsworth. They oppose illegals but have shown themselves to be on the side of the American workers through their support for health insurance and minimum wage. TOM TANCREDO IS AN ENEMY OF THE AMERICAN WORKER!! HE OPPOSES THE MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE!! HIS CONCERN FOR THE AMERICAN WORKER IS A CHARADE!!

As far as Barack Obama is concerned, no chance of getting the nomination, mark my word!!

Posted by: George Chell | February 23, 2007 08:15 AM

One more thing. I worked to destroy candidates who opposed illegal aliens "to help the American workers" but then turned around and opposed the minimum wage increase. We ran this commercial over and over again in Indiana 8th to destroy John Hostettler, and then Claire McCaskill picked it up to destroy Jim Talent, Bob Casey picked it up to destroy Rick Santorum and of course the surprise of all, Nancy Boyda and Health Schuler picked it up to destroy their opponents...yes I am very proud of it.

Posted by: G. Chell | February 23, 2007 08:18 AM

Another of Tancredo's shennanigans...protects babies as long as they are in the mother's womb...

http://www.spcm.org/Journal/spip.php?article6667

but once they are born, he wants to deny at least some of them certain rights...

http://www.alternet.org/rights/48284/

Posted by: George Chell | February 23, 2007 11:10 AM

georgie, When it is born let it go get it's rights in mexico, where it belongs. NUT CASE !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by: Chuck | March 14, 2007 12:06 AM

Tell us, oh Drum Major Institite, how 20,000,000 illegals, the additional tens of millions of relatives that those amnesty recipients will bring in under Family Reunification, and the millions of legal immigrants that enter the US every year will improve the economy for the working people in this country? Business creates cheap labor demand, then tells us that we need it. I guess laws of economics are lost to these so-called pro-labor loons. To wit: in my own city, Chicago, several million post-Communist Polish immigrants and, now their children, have succeeded in driving down wages for residential and commercial construction workers to the level of 1970's earnings while the cost of living here increases. Immigration is a scam. There is no real demand for their labor-those who make millions from them created this demand while pushing off their huge social costs on to the middle class and crushing wages. The Left is abandoning labor for multicultural fantasies. This will be their permanent undoing. All this cheap labor creates more demand for cheap labor that no one can afford. It's a Ponzi scheme. In addition, what's completely lost on these amnesty supporters is that no one in his or her sane mind wants two hundred million more third world immigrants in the coming decades. You are absolutely out of your minds. Peak oil and $6 a gallon gas will put a stop to this insanity quickly. Bring it on!

Posted by: Eric Smoczynski | March 17, 2007 04:47 PM