Thread: Tancredo: 'I Don't Trust the President' on Border Security

(CNSNews.com) - An immigration compromise plan will not work, because President Bush cannot be trusted to "certify" America's borders are secure, Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) said Thursday.

In an effort to reconcile the divergent immigration bills in the House and Senate, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) and Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) put forth a compromise plan this summer that would require the president to "certify" the successful implementation of security measures along the most porous entry points into the U.S. before a guest worker program could be implemented.

"I don't trust the president to say the borders are secure," Tancredo told an audience at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. He said immigration policy should be formulated with an emphasis on law enforcement as opposed to "political pandering" for votes. Tancredo also cited a "disconnect" between "elite policy makers" and the American people.

This week, the Senate is considering House legislation that would authorize the construction of 700 miles of reinforced fencing along the most porous sections of America's southwestern border.

Additional measures passed by the House Thursday impose criminal penalties on the construction and financing of border tunnels and provide for expedited removal of criminal aliens. The legislation also "reaffirms the authority" of state and local police to enforce federal immigration laws.

Should the Senate fail to act on border enforcement legislation, Tancredo sees grassroots efforts and citizen activism on the local level as a viable alternative. He would like to see citizen support for strict local laws against illegal immigration and support for pro-enforcement officials at the local level.

Tancredo pointed to a local ordinance in Hazelton, Pa., as an example of the kind of legislation local officials could enact. The ordinance imposes fines and penalties on landlords who rent to illegal aliens and on businesses who hire them.

Similar measures have also passed in other parts of Pennsylvania and in Riverside, N.J.

Tancredo took issue with some conservative strategists - such as Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform - who feel that a push for stringent immigration policies could hurt the Republican Party politically.

"I don't buy it," Tancredo said. "By saying we should be a nation of laws, we will gain votes."

As evidence, Tancredo pointed to Proposition 200 in Arizona, which requires government employees to verify the immigration status of people applying for benefits. Tancredo noted that law was enacted with support from 47 percent of the state's Hispanics.

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp ... 0922c.html

What exactly needs to happen for the border to be "certified" as being secured?

The fence, the implementation of cameras, etc. All that isn't going to happen in just a couple of months. It's going to take a few years for it all to be completed, so what are they looking for here?

Besides, would it not behove (sp?) Bush to sign it asap if it means getting him closer to his dang amnesty?

Bush will certify that the borders are secure the moment he signs the big fat amnesty bill. Tancredo is right, to say this clown can't be trusted is a gross understatement.

Don't be fooled folks. Jorge will never sign the latest border security legislation, even if it does get by the Senate. George has no intention of ever sealing the borders. Tancredo is right.

Chertoff is already saying that the borders are secure because we sent some National Guardsmen down there. And how could that be because they have those soldiers' hands tied!!! Bush and company would lie through their teeth.

Originally Posted by 31scout

Chertoff is already saying that the borders are secure because we sent some National Guardsmen down there. And how could that be because they have those soldiers' hands tied!!! Bush and company would lie through their teeth.

There is no more NG on the border. The Shrub administration sent down a handful of NG just long enough to give the BP a cup of coffee and then left.

Here's the scoop:

Here It Comes
Fake Enforcement Used to Justify Real Amnesty

ABP could find only Minutemen assisting Border Patrol in California - no evidence of National Guard on patrol.

Los Angeles Times-- September 18
Immigration Reform Efforts Reinvigorate Support for Guest Worker ProgramAP Internal Use Only

"As border enforcement shrinks the labor force of undocumented field hands and immigration reform looms in Congress, growers have focused with renewed vigor on the need for a simplified federal guest worker program.

"Deception exposed: Bush said he put 6,000 National Guard on the border. After a brief show, ABP found that most were pulled off the border. Watch this video survey from San Diego to Yuma. (ABP has since flown the border to Laredo, Texas, and found no evidence of National Guard.)

Watch: http://www.americanpatrol.com/WMV/06082 ... ey-ABP.wmv