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Published: Monday, November 19, 2007
Tancredo talks immigration
By JOSEPH G. COTE Telegraph Staff

www.nashuatelegraph.com

NASHUA – Presidential candidate Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., was happy to see friendly faces Sunday afternoon in Chuck and Dianne Lothrop's living room.

The candidate had just arrived from an interview where a man from a nearby Young Democrats convention yelled and accused him of attacking Mexicans.

"This turned into quite a little incident," Tancredo said.

Tancredo spent close to two hours with the more welcoming crowd of about 40 supporters, focusing on the "clash of civilizations" and how illegal immigration bleeds into so many of the issues facing the country.

Open borders and the illegal immigration they allow erodes the United States' sovereignty, security and culture, he said. The millions of immigrants moving here illegally and not being assimilated into our culture, he said, are an attack on the country's cultural mores. It also leads to higher crime rates and even to the sub-prime mortgage crises, he said.

The influx of immigrants from Mexico also amounts to that country "exporting their poverty" to the United States, Tancredo said.

The problem, he said, is that corporations like the cheap labor illegal aliens provide, and Democrats enjoy their voting power.

Tancredo's message of staying tough on illegal immigration, including getting many illegal aliens to leave by cracking down on businesses that employ them and deporting rest of them, was well received by many at the house party.

"We have to start draining the swamp," he said.

Diane Lothrop said Tancredo's stance on illegal immigration was what drew her to him. She spent more than 20 years as a legal immigrant from England before becoming a citizen six years ago.

"It's a very important issue to me," she said. "I did it the legal way. If I did it, then so can they."

Nashua resident Jay Clair said Tancredo has helped shape the primary thus far by forcing other candidates to talk about illegal immigration.

"He was the first one to take notice and push it, and now everyone's following his lead," Clair said. "He gets the big picture."

And Sunday Tancredo talked more about forcing the conversation to illegal immigration than actually winning the Republican nomination.

"We're going to keep making (other candidates) talk about it as long as I can," he said. "I will be as nettlesome as I need to be."

Nashua resident Scott Drew said that only makes sense considering the lack of media attention Tancredo usually gets.

"I think he's trying to get this issue front and center and make people talk about it more," Drew said.

Tancredo said the war in Iraq is just one battle in another clash of civilizations between the West and radical Islam.

"It's a war to be fought with the power of ideas," he said.

He said the suicide bombings and terrorism seen in that part of the world can easily happen here, in part, because of the country's open borders.

But laws won't solve the problem, he said. Minds have to be changed and that will require a president who talks about the issue in office. He's the only candidate willing to do that, he said.

"He's an awesome candidate," Chuck Lothrop said. "He's got a good outlook and plan for the country."

Joseph G. Cote can be reached at 594-6415 or jcote@nashuatelegraph.com.