Crowd cheers as Tancredo blasts illegal -- and legal -- immigration in U.S.


By Jo Mannies
POST-DISPATCHPOLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
09/22/2007

Frontenac, Missouri — Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., asserted Friday that his anti-immigration message, which brought a crowd here to its feet, is also dragging down his Republican bid for the White House.

Why? "Money," or rather, lack of it, replied Tancredo, as he mingled with the audience of activists with Eagle Forum, a social conservative group holding a national meeting this weekend at the Frontenac Hilton.

The major presidential fundraisers, regardless of party, "are taking money from executives with corporations that have a very big stake in this,'' Tancredo said. They oppose his candidacy, he said, because big business favors "massive importation of very cheap labor." But the Republican base does not, he added.

Tancredo drew supportive cheers during his speech when he declared, "Cheap labor is cheap only to the employer. It costs the rest of us a fortune."

Tancredo blamed illegal immigrants for rising crime — "90 percent of the murder warrants in LA are for illegal immigrants" — as well as the rising cost of health care and the economic decline in the housing market.

Tancredo contends that illegal, and legal, immigrants are harming the nation because many of the newcomers "refuse to assimilate."

Even many legal immigrants fail to learn English or embrace American culture, choosing instead to keep their old customs and religion, he said. "The American melting pot is broken."

He asserted that such practices are destroying the cultural ties that long bound Americans together. The crowd roared in agreement when Tancredo shouted, "I'm tired of pressing '1' for English, and '2' for Spanish!"

He also linked illegal immigration to the nation's fight against terrorism and Islamic extremists. Tancredo asserted that some Iraqis were paying $50,000 to be smuggled across U.S. borders.

They're avoiding coming through proper channels, he said, because they seek "to do something dangerous."

Tancredeo acknowledged during in an interview after his speech that he's stuck in the GOP's "second tier'' of presidential contenders. But he believes that he has forced the Republican front-runners to be more forceful against illegal immigration than they'd like.

Afterward, Eagle Forum president Phyllis Schlafly praised Tancredo's bravery, while warning that social conservatives aren't happy with some of his better-known Republican rivals.

Gazing around the ballroom, Schlafly said, "I don't think (New York Mayor Rudy) Giuliani would get any votes here."

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