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One-note legislator's star rises as issue heats up
- James Sterngold, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 4, 2006


(07-04) 04:00 PDT Littleton, Colo. -- Tom Tancredo for president?

For years, Tancredo, a Republican who represents Denver's wealthy, fast-growing southern suburbs in the House, had been seen as a fringe right-winger consumed with one issue: halting illegal immigration.

But with the emergence of immigration reform as a bitterly disputed issue, not only has Tancredo become a leading voice for those who want to send undocumented immigrants packing, his supporters have started a Web site (tancredo4prez.blogspot.com) touting him as a presidential candidate.

In an interview, the four-term congressman did little to discourage the idea of a run if Washington fails to slam America's borders shut.

"I wouldn't run for president just because a lot of people wanted me to," said Tancredo, who recently won a Republican straw poll among likely presidential contenders in a Detroit suburb. "But I would run if I felt I had to."

Todd Berich, a fellow Republican, ought to be an enthusiastic backer of a Tancredo candidacy. Don't bet on it. Immigrant labor -- legal and illegal -- has become so essential to Berich Masonry, his midsize contracting company, as well as for other construction outfits in these booming suburbs, that without it his business, he said, could collapse.

"We need the labor, plain and simple," said Berich.

Berich's view is emblematic of the deep fissures the immigration issue is creating in communities across the country, even in Colorado's Sixth District, which has repeatedly elected the single-minded opponent of illegal immigrants.

And Berich is far from alone. Bruce Miller, the owner of Denver Drywall, which also does much of its work in Tancredo's district, said that even with average wages of $18 to $24 an hour, plus benefits, his business already faces a serious manpower shortage. It relies heavily on immigrants, and as many as 30 percent of the drywall workers in the region are believed to be undocumented.

"We turned down a good-sized job just recently because we were worried we're not going to be able to get the manpower to do the job," said Miller.

A supervisor for another drywall company at a construction site near Littleton, who gave his name only as Mr. Fernandez, put the issue in starker terms.

"Are you kidding? I think the construction industry would come to a halt" if undocumented workers were forced to leave, he said.

A sitting congressman can cast a long political shadow in a home district, and many people in the Sixth District were reluctant to criticize Tancredo directly. The district includes Centennial and Littleton -- the home of Columbine High School, where 12 students and a teacher were killed in 1999 by suicidal classmates in the deadliest school shooting in the nation.

Interviews with people in and around Tancredo's district illustrated the quandary the immigration issue poses for many people. They want to stop foreigners from entering the country illegally, but they also recognize that undocumented workers have become essential to the local economy -- especially in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, whose largest industries -- ski resorts, meatpacking, construction -- rely heavily on immigrant workers.

Tancredo said he understands the dilemma, but lawbreaking cannot be tolerated.

"It would be better to repeal the laws on illegal immigration than to continue to ignore them," he said. Some of the lawbreakers argue that the issue is not so simple.

"We respect his ideas," said Patricia R., an undocumented immigrant from Mexico who cleans office buildings at night in Tancredo's district for $9.45 an hour. "And maybe we are here without documents, but we are here to work, and they need people like us badly.

"I don't think an American is going to come and clean bathrooms like we do," Patricia R. added, speaking on condition that her last name not be used.

But John Brackney, president of the South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce, called Tancredo a superstar. "He changed the national debate. Well, that's cool. You have to applaud that," he said.

When pressed on how local business leaders felt about the prospect of illegal immigrants being forced to leave -- as outlined in the House version of immigration legislation backed by Tancredo -- Brackney conceded that they are generally opposed to the idea.

"No ifs, ands or buts. In a lot of our companies, immigrants are playing a critical role," said Brackney. "My instincts say that when we debate it, we will choose a path closer to the position in the Senate," meaning a proposal that would toughen border security but also give many of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States a path to legalization.

Given Tancredo's highly publicized position on the matter and the state's history as a bastion of whites, Colorado might not seem an obvious place for tensions over the immigration debate to be so apparent. But change has come fast in the region. Denver is now 32 percent Latino, up from 23 percent in 1990.

As in other major cities, Latino neighborhoods are booming and changing the character of the city, as well as its culture. For example, there are three country-and-western format radio stations in the Denver area, but there are eight Spanish-language stations.

Douglas County, the heart of Tancredo's Sixth District just south of Denver, is a booming suburb whose population grew 42 percent from 2000 to 2005, to approximately 250,000. The generally affluent county is 93 percent white, updated census figures show. It is slightly more than 6 percent Latino, but Latino immigrants, illegal and legal, are believed to make up a much larger share of the workforce that comes to Douglas County every day, partly to service the thriving construction business.

Statewide, said Debra Miller, executive director of the American Subcontractors Association of Colorado, undocumented immigrants are believed to make up more than 20 percent of workers in most construction trades and nearly 30 percent in drywall contracting alone.

Like Berich, Debra Miller (no relation to Bruce Miller) believes that without undocumented immigrants, the industry would collapse.

"The struggle we already have is finding skilled workers," she said.

Tancredo does not dispute the critical role undocumented workers play throughout Colorado. But stopping illegal immigration, he said, would help raise the wages of low-skilled American workers, increase housing prices only slightly, and, most importantly, uphold respect for the law.

"The bottom line is the companies would not be as profitable as they presently are," he said.

Tancredo dismisses President Bush's assertion that it would be impractical, if not impossible, to deport millions of undocumented immigrants.

"It's stupid to say it can't be done," Tancredo said. "We do have the resources."

Tancredo is also pressing for a state law that would ban non-emergency services for undocumented immigrants. He says immigrants are overwhelming hospital emergency rooms and overburdening state schools with children who speak no English and disrupt classrooms.

The Colorado Supreme Court struck down a similarly worded initiative last month, but Gov. Bill Owens has called a special session of the Legislature to consider a similar measure.

Celia F., an undocumented immigrant who cleans offices with Patricia R., said the proposed law would create a terrible environment for families like hers who, she insisted, follow all laws -- other than immigration laws.

In fact, Celia said, she, her husband, who works at a painting company, and her two children pay full price for medical care at a clinic. "I have to spend my whole paycheck sometimes for doctors," she said.

Federico Pena, a former Denver mayor and Cabinet secretary in the Clinton administration, is leading the fight against the state measure. He conceded, however, that if the ballot were held today, "the debate right now is so visceral and so bitter the initiative would pass."

Even long-standing opponents of Tancredo's positions appear to be struggling with the question and are fearful of angering either side.

The largest company in Tancredo's district is First Data Corp., much of whose income is derived from transferring funds overseas for its customers, a great many of them immigrants. In the past, the company supported immigrant rights and openly criticized Tancredo, giving money to other candidates and establishing an "empowerment" fund for low-income youth, mostly immigrants.

The tone has now changed. In an e-mail exchange, a public relations official said neither First Data's political action committee nor its empowerment fund were intended to directly assist immigrants.

Ana White, a public relations official for Western Union, a First Data subsidiary, wrote, "We continue to be generally supportive of any legislation which balances the needs of legal immigrants, existing U.S. citizens and the country's national security."

Berich, the masonry company owner, sees the conflict in more direct terms.

"We do need to secure our borders, but we can't do it at the expense of commerce," he said. "I mean, we're the good guys. We make the economy grow. All of a sudden, we have to be the enforcers of these laws and become experts on fake IDs? It just won't work, but Tancredo just doesn't understand that."

For Tancredo, however, stopping illegal immigration is part of a higher mission. In his recently published book, titled "In Mortal Danger: The Battle for America's Border and Security," Tancredo writes: "I want to do what I can to defend the West in the clash of civilizations that threatens humanity with a return to the Dark Ages."

E-mail James Sterngold at jsterngold@sfchronicle.com.