Thread: Tancredo, mayor in war of words

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drm...251120,00.html

TV report about illegal immigration triggers latest tiff

Tom Tancredo called for an investigation of trafficking and police reaction.

Print By Stuart Steers, Rocky Mountain News
November 19, 2005
Denver to Tom Tancredo: Enough already.
A TV news story that showcased how easily illegal immigrants can be shuttled through Denver has prompted the latest spat between Tancredo, a congressman from Colorado, and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper.

Tancredo fired off a letter Friday to Hickenlooper following a CBS 4 News investigation, aired Thursday, that followed a smuggling ring as it drove illegals through the streets of Denver. The Littleton Republican was especially outraged by the report that a white van filled with immigrants was pulled over by a Denver police officer, who talked to the driver and then let him move on.

"I find this shocking and shameful, both the trafficking and the police indifference to it," Tancredo wrote Hickenlooper. "I suggest you ask the city attorney and U.S. attorney to investigate both the trafficking and the police response to it."

Tancredo has been in a war of words with Denver since the May killing of Denver police detective Donald Young. The suspect in that case, Raul Garcia-Gomez, was an illegal immigrant from Mexico. Tancredo accused Hickenlooper of turning Denver into a "sanctuary" for illegal immigrants and claimed the city has a policy of "noncooperation" with immigration authorities.

All of which is nonsense, says the mayor.

"Denver does not have a sanctuary policy, and the Denver Police Department routinely alerts Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to suspected cases of human trafficking," the mayor said in a statement.

Hickenlooper went on to note that the TV story said ICE has chosen to use its limited resources to take down large-scale smuggling operations and is often unable to track small-scale smugglers.

"We support Congressman Tancredo's efforts to secure more federal funding for ICE's enforcement capabilities," Hickenlooper said.

But Tancredo has continued to criticize the city, insisting Denver has turned on a flashing vacancy sign for illegals.

"These smugglers know that Denver is hospitable to illegal aliens, so they believe they can operate here without fear of arrest or prosecution," Tancredo wrote in his letter.

Tancredo has been using the illegal immigrant issue as a platform for a possible run for the Republican presidential nomination. The congressman already has visited Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, sites of the earliest voting in the 2008 primaries.

That has alarmed some Republicans, who fear Tancredo's anti-immigrant rhetoric will alienate Hispanic voters.

But Tancredo shows no signs of backing off from controversy. In July he created an international furor when he suggested the United States would "take out" Muslim holy sites in the event that Islamic terrorists set off nuclear bombs in U.S. cities.

Tancredo refused calls to apologize or resign, saying he was speaking hypothetically and that he does not advocate taking such a "draconian" action.

Tancredo 2008.

Tancredo 2008.

Oh yeah. He'll make minced meat out of Hillary.