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Tom Tancredo Makes Rounds in Iowa

The Des Moines Register reports on Congressman Tom Tancredo's foray into Iowa as he moves forward in his Presidential bid. Tancredo isn't toning down his immigration message, which he delivered to the Christian Coalition in Iowa (hat tip to Coyote Gulch for the link).

Colorado Republican Tom Tancredo said in Iowa this week that he will run for president in 2008 if no top-tier Republicans pick up his call for stricter immigration law enforcement.

Tancredo, a congressman from suburban Denver, is calling for border control by the U.S. military. He also supports sending all undocumented immigrants back to their homelands, a measure intended to reserve jobs for those in the country legally.

Tancredo definitely doesn't seem interested in acting like an actual candidate for President, and he's said before that he doesn't think he could really be the Republican nominee. But if he expects to influence the debate on immigration among Presidential candidates, his ultra-hard-line, 'kick 'em all out,' stance might not be the way to do it. You may agree with Tancredo that the U.S. should remove all illegal immigrants, but as a policy it is so completely impractical that it's not even worth discussing. But even Tancredo's attempts at actual legislation are too impractical to consider:

Tancredo, a close ally of Republican Rep. Steve King of Iowa, has proposed legislation that would put troops on the U.S.-Mexican border to halt illegal immigration. The proposal also would dramatically increase the number of border guards, who would eventually take the military's place in filling gaps along the border.

The legislation, which has failed in the House both times Tancredo introduced it, would require employers to verify the validity of immigrants' Social Security numbers, now an option for businesses, and forbid amnesty for immigrants in the country illegally.

Adding border guards will cost money, Tancredo said, but he added: "What is our priority, to secure the nation or fund the National Endowment for the Arts?"

Tancredo has pushed his anti-immigration message for years without anyone really taking a closer look, but why is he trying to force other Presidential candidates to discuss the issue when he can't come up with practical solutions of his own?

"I demand that we find a solution to the illegal immigration problem in this country!"

Okay, Tom, what do you propose we do about it?

"I don't know. But I demand that you figure it out!"

If you're trying to influence the debate on the Presidential level, that's probably not going to work.

Posted by Colorado Pols on July 10, 2005 at 10:03 PM | Permalink

Comments

tancredo? that is so not a "presidential" name. he's disqualified for having the wrong name.

Posted by: Darrin coe | July 10, 2005 at 10:22 PM

I'll put this out here admitting that I have not read the language of Tancredo's proposal.

However, when he says we should put troops on the border, does he mean military troops, or more border guards? Beyond the policy debate about this approach, where's the practicality? We currently are having a serious problem recruiting military troops thanks to the iraq war - where are these troops going to come from??

Posted by: Alfalfa | July 11, 2005 at 09:47 AM

Gee, I guess the goal of lawmakers is to be "practical," even if that means ignoring the burgeoning issue of the century. You same libs and pantywaist idealists who think it's cool when a guy like Ross Perot shakes things up trash Tancredo, as if it's NOT the strident guy's JOB to change the debate. Fools, don't you remember how "wacko" Buchanan changed the debate in the races he ran? You're just mad because when there's a Dem that spices things up a little, it's Howard Dean.
Unlike Dean, Tancredo's influence on the race will shore UP the GOP base, while Dean is just helping the Democratic party go the way of the Whigs. The writing's on the wall, libs. It's not your style, it's your substance.

Posted by: Libidiots | July 22, 2005 at 11:43 PM

By the way, I will fund and vote Tancredo if the time comes, and so are a lot of other people who are not GOP party skid marks.

Posted by: Libidiots | July 22, 2005 at 11:44 PM

While it is important for any country to have secure borders, I find it funny that we only feel we need to secure our Southern border. In any case, it is hypocritical to say "kick 'em out" when we are more than happy to enjoy the economic benefits of the arrangement. These immigrants have no legal rights, can be fired at any time, have no insurance or pensions and are unlikely to seek help when abused by an employer. It seems to me that Big Business likes this arrangement just fine, and since they run the country, not much will change. For more on this, feel free to visit and comment at:
http://pastpresentandfutureramblings.blogspot.com/2005/10/opinion-border-security.html

Posted by: Uncommon Sense | November 27, 2005 at 06:27 PM

The Southern border is the most important. I have been researching illegal immigration for my "National History Day" project, and I am disgusted at what I've found. 46,000 illegal immigrants were in our federal prisons as of 2003. Illegal aliens are the reason for the spike in gang violence. As for medical care, illegal aliens are getting better care than true Americans! They know they can't be turned away for care, so they tend to use emergency rooms like regular doctor's offices. It's sick. I know that you may not agree with what Tancredo's proposing, but atleast he's DOING something about illegal immigration!

Posted by: Sarah | March 11, 2006 at 09:50 AM

Not only does Tancredo try to garner headlines with his ridiculous and utterly impractical "send 'em all back" stance, he doesn't want more LEGAL immigrants here either.

My website dared to carry a photo of a smiling Tancredo proudly holding an "America is Full" t-shirt: a photo that appears, by the way, in the ColoradoPols archives. Well, I just received a nasty email from "Tennesseeans for Responsible Immigration Policies" (a.k.a. "Tennesseeans for NO Immigration Period") threatening a lawsuit if I didn't remove the photo. They claim to hold the copyright.

If you go on Google Images, you'll see that the photo of Tancredo with the offensive t-shirt appears in two places: ColoradoPols, and TnRIP. However, the page in TnRIP has been removed. Apparently TnRIP is trying to sanitize somewhat the buffoonish image of its hero. Instead they have a photo of a presidential-looking Tancredo talking with a "legal immigrant" supporter: one who apparently doesn't realize that in his eyes, she shouldn't be here either: "America is Full"!

In the height of irony, the TnRIP website ITSELF contains a legal disclaimer purporting to give itself the right to "fair use" of copyrighted materials of others: yet they try to deny others the same "fair use." Typical Tancredo-style hypocrisy.

Illegal immigration is a serious problem. It deserves serious debate and serious spokespeople: not a clown like Tancredo whose only REAL interest is staying on the public dole for as long as possible, allowing his constituents to subsidize his book-writing career.

Posted by: Tancredo Watch | June 26, 2006 at 10:52 PM

Geez! I wish folks who write Blogs would learn to double-check their facts before they start posting things that aren't true. After just about 5 minutes of checking, I find that the photo you speak of showing Congressman Tancredo holding the 'America is Full' shirt IS, in fact, still on the original website and shows what is actually taking place - someone else is handing the t-shirt TO the Congressman. The caption under the photo states that the man handing the shirt TO the Congressman is a representative of ProjectUSA (see the original photo here: http://www.tnrip.org/events/040304.htm ). Also, from what I can find out from a couple of posts on other Blogs, the people from the original website didn't have a problem with anyone else using the photo, they seemed to have had an issue with the fact that it had been cropped down for no other reason than to try and misrepresent the facts. Frankly, I don't blame them because that's simply bad form on the part of the Blogger (or anyone else).

I'm certainly not saying that I support Tancredo in all his views but, if you want to be taken seriously, you need to get your facts straight.

Posted by: L. Roberts | August 26, 2006 at 12:49 AM

Just to clear things up, my previous post was a comment on the post by "Tancredo Watch" - someone who seems been on whining about his own mistake (though he refuses to take credit/blame for same)

Posted by: L. Roberts | August 26, 2006 at 12:53 AM