Thread: Who's toughest on immigration? AZ AG Contenders spar

http://azstarnet.com/news/local/border/ ... 40d11.html

Tancredo's change of endorsement also becomes grist
Who's toughest on immigration? AG contenders spar over amnesty

Rhonda Bodfield Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Tuesday, July 6, 2010



At a Scottsdale Tea Party event in early June, Republican attorney general hopeful Tom Horne burnished his immigration credentials by drawing on the endorsement of former Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo, a controversial, high-octane booster of securing the border.

"In the case of fighting immigration, I'm proud to say I'm endorsed by Tom Tancredo, the former congressman who started the national fight to fight illegal immigration," Horne said, to applause.

Tancredo, however, has since pulled his endorsement and is now backing former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas.

Tancredo, who calls Thomas "the real deal," warns voters not to be "misled by false claims of 'being tough on illegal immigration.' " He said the defining difference is Horne's support for amnesty compared with Thomas' "consistent and principled opposition" to amnesty. The amnesty claim stems from a 2007 article in the East Valley Tribune that said Horne "has a plan that would reward high school graduates with citizenship. All they would have to do is pass a test."

The article quotes Horne as saying, "If there's a standardized test that confirms it, that the student does well and learned, I would have no objection to that." It noted that Horne said illegal immigration is the parents' fault, not the fault of the children.

Reached on his cell phone, Tancredo said, "Mr. Horne is a nice fellow and very competent, but the more I found out about their positions on the issue I'm most concerned about, it did seem that I acted precipitously."

As Maricopa County attorney, Thomas worked in tandem with Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who is endorsing his bid, as is Sen. Russell Pearce, who sponsored the state's hard-line immigration law.

Thomas said he was surprised when he heard Horne touting Tancredo's announcement and promptly got in touch with the immigration hard-liner to provide more information.

"Tom Tancredo is a national figure in the fight against illegal immigration, and he can't be expected to know every last thing about every state and every candidate across the nation," Thomas said.

The important thing, he added, is that Horne "has squirmed and tried to avoid being pinned down, but the facts speak for themselves, and now leaders are supporting me over him."

Horne said the Tribune story "was a little bit inaccurate, but even if it were accurate, it wouldn't be amnesty."

He said he can't explain why the story credits him with a plan, when the reporter had called him to ask his take on the DREAM Act. The bill would give undocumented young adults who have been in the country continuously for five years a chance to earn residency if they graduate from high school and meet postsecondary or military requirements. Supporters say they're targeting young people who came to America as children and who consider this their home.

Horne said he was explaining that if students were given citizenship for doing well, it should be based on an objective test and not on something subjective, such as grades, because it would pressure teachers to inflate grades.

"I did not and I have never taken a position supporting the DREAM Act," he said, adding that he recalls being surprised when he saw the story. "I never had a plan. I think the reporter just made an honest mistake."

He said he remains opposed to amnesty. "I don't think breaking our laws by crossing our border illegally should be rewarded with citizenship."

Horne said he met Tancredo at an NRA convention a year ago, and he later sought his endorsement.

He said he explained about his work fining the Ajo school district for claiming state reimbursement for illegal entrants who cross the border at Lukeville to go to school there. He also talked about his opposition to bilingual education and his work fighting a federal judge who ordered the state to spend more money on English-language learners.

Even though Thomas has distorted his record, he said, immigration isn't going to be as important in the primary as it will be in the general because "Andy and I don't really disagree on border issues."

He said Tancredo hadn't told him he was pulling his endorsement, but said he doesn't think a single endorsement is going to matter in his race.

Certainly, Tancredo isn't popular in all GOP circles. Former Republican House leader Dick Armey, who has been a big backer of the tea party movement, said Tancredo and other staunch anti-immigration figures are destructive to Republicans by alienating a large constituency.

At any rate, Thomas said he hasn't distorted anything. Giving students a pass is amnesty, he insisted.

What would he do with those students? "In some rare cases there might be compelling circumstances that a federal immigration judge could deal with on an individualized matter," he said. "We have a process in place to deal with the situation, but we need to have the will to enforce our immigration laws."

Contact reporter Rhonda Bodfield at 573-4243 or rbodfield@azstarnet.com

Originally Posted by HAPPY2BME

http://azstarnet.com/news/local/border/article_955bbb5e-b80f-5c64-b4a8-35d642c40d11.html

Tancredo's change of endorsement also becomes grist

Certainly, Tancredo isn't popular in all GOP circles. Former Republican House leader Dick Armey, who has been a big backer of the tea party movement, said Tancredo and other staunch anti-immigration figures are destructive to Republicans by alienating a large constituency.

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Dick Armey is a traitor to his own country. His actions in HIDING support for the illegal alien invasion into the United States while he was a high ranking leader in the Republican Party is a perfect example of why we are in the mess we are in today.

Dick Armey is a spy in the camp of patriots. He and those like him are trying to commandeer the Tea Party into a branch of the GOP so that we can have more John McCain's in control telling us now for the past twenty years how much they have done and plan to do to secure our border and end the invasion from Mexico.

Did they? Will they?

I say emphatically NO!

Am I wrong?

No you are not wrong "HAPPY". The Republicans are just as much to blame here. Reagan passed the first amnesty and there are Republicans today that back amnesties of some sort.

Originally Posted by uniteasone

The Republicans are just as much to blame here.

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The 1986 Amnesty covered 2.7 million illegal aliens in the country at that time, most of which were in California, Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico.

Reagan later repented for granting it, realizing it was a terrible mistake, and that it would only encourage MILLIONS more to pour over our porous borders - AND IT HAS!

That 2.7 has now multiplied into a conservative number SEVEN TIMES as large - well over 21 million here now, and half of Mexico trying to figure out how they are going to flee the murder spree in that country that has left over 25,000 dead in the past five years.

Wouldn't you want to run for your life as fast as you could also?

Of course you would.

'Immigration Reform' is nothing but another code word for A-M-N-E-S-T-Y.

Who profits mostly?

Firstly, P-O-L-I-T-I-C-I-A-N-S.

i.e., the few in control who perpetually lie to the American people that they are doing everything they can to stop illegal immigration while at the same time use their positions of power and authority to HOG TIE our border patrol and national law enforcement at every level from ENFORCING THE EXISTING immigration laws.

The Republican party will fall FLAT ON IT'S FACE unless they have their feet NAILED TO THE FLOOR on exactly WHAT and WHEN they are going to stand up against the invasion. We all witnessed it first-hand from 200 ~ 2008 with the 106th, 107th, and 108th Republican Congress led by one of the most avid amnesty presidents in our history: George W. Bush.

Whey won't they come clean and do this?

ANSWER: $$ and VOTES