Thread: Tancredo touts common culture, derides illegal immigration

I haven't seen this article posted, but if it has please delete:
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Tancredo touts common culture, derides illegal immigration
By Bret Hayworth Journal staff writer

Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo pushed the pedal on his get-tough-on-illegal-immigration stance Tuesday and didn't let up.

Bringing his Save America Tour to Sioux City in a final push for a strong showing in Saturday's straw poll in Ames, The U.S. congressman from Colorado hit the immigration topic from the beginning. During the hourlong event, he briefly referenced high gas prices and universal health care and was asked about abortion and taxes, but Tancredo said the defining issue of the times is dealing with illegal immigration, which he said undermines the future of America.

In fact, Tancredo, who also planned stops in Sheldon, Sioux Center and Hull on Tuesday, said one reason he decided to run for president was to highlight how upset Americans are with the 12 million to 20 million illegal immigrants who are a drain on resources and the nation's culture. Bay Buchanan, a key Tancredo adviser and a sister of three-time presidential candidate Pat Buchanan, said she asked Tancredo to run for president to be the face of the illegal immigration issue, and she is glad he did.

Whether they are Republicans or Democrats, Buchanan said, "America will no longer tolerate amnesty politicians."

Frequently receiving applause from the 45 people at the Quality Inn, Tancredo said illegal immigration, generally coming across the nation's southern borders, puts much pressure on schools and medical facilities and also harms the environment when illegal crossings damage pristine lands. There are concerns that "porous borders create national security problems" and that illegal immigrants push illegal drugs, he added.

But the most disconcerting aspect of illegal immigration, Tancredo said, is the "bilingualization" of America. He held up a copy of the Ottumwa (Iowa) Courier, lamenting an edition published in both English and Spanish. He said the acceptance of the "push 1 for English, 2 for Spanish" on phone messages is just another sign of what he called the cult of multiculturalism.

When immigrants come to America, they need to cohere in a common culture, he said, adding that the English language is the glue that aids that.

"The public school used to be the one place where assimilation did occur," he said but added those days are past with so many Spanish-speaking immigrants. He contrasted the lack of assimilation today with the Tancredo family's approach to on emigrating from Italy in the 1890s. Even when his grandparents bickered and his grandfather reverted to Italian, Tancredo said, his grandmother would respond, "Speak American!"

Tancredo said there is a simple way to deal with illegal immigration -- enforce the law and prosecute undocumented immigrants, a statement that drew considerable applause.

"It is called attrition through enforcement. It will work," he said.

Tancredo praised those who flooded Congressional phone banks last month to beat back an immigration reform bill that would have given a path to legal status by paying a fine and back taxes and learning English. Tancredo derided fellow Republican candidates Tommy Thompson and Mitt Romney as being pro-amnesty politicians, citing statements and votes. He said President Bush has failed on immigration reform, and for his outspokenness in that regard Tancredo noted he'd been banned by Bush's key adviser, Karl Rove, from returning to the White House.

Linking both illegal and legal immigration, Tancredo said massive immigration over the past 40 years has strained U.S. resources, so "it is time for a time-out" and to let assimilation of those in the country to take place.

Additionally, he said, as western Europe becomes increasingly "Islamicized" in population ("the largest mosque in the world is being built in London, the most common name for a male child today being born in several cities in Europe now is Mohammed"), the U.S. is "the last, best hope of Western civilization here. When the lights go out here, they go out all over the world."

"If there is a sort of confusion on our part about who we are and what we are, then we cannot be successful in this clash of civilizations," he said.

Bret Hayworth may be reached at (712) 293.4203

http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/article ... 698e3f.txt

He stops short of spelling out the fact that 'enforcement' means we have to go after the jobs and the employers.

No one seems to want to touch that with a ten foot pole. That speaks volumes to me.