Tom Tancredo silenced, cancels trip
http://www.denverpost.com/ci_4832611
Threats force Tancredo to cancel Miami trip
by Anne C. Mulkern
Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated:12/13/2006 01:00:04 PM MST
Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., has cancelled a visit Thursday to Miami, which he recently called "a third-world country" because of its large immigrant population. (Post)Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo has cancelled his visit to Miami on Thursday because of threats he has received, according to CBS News in Miami.
Tancredo, a Republican from Littleton, was scheduled to make a speech, entitled "Renewing America: The Need for Assimilation", to the Key Biscayne Rotary Club in Miami.
But the restaurant where Tancredo was to speak said today it didn't want him to appear on Thursday. The restaurant said some of the staff objected to working the party.
The Rotarians invited Tancredo to speak to them after he criticized Miami by calling it "a third-world country" because of the large number of immigrants living there.
He said that immigrants who came to Miami, both legal and illegal, have not learned English and live in insular communities with high crime rates and low high school graduation rates. That has made parts of the city and surrounding areas like a Third World country, he said.
Tancredo first made the Third World country remark last month while visiting southern Florida. Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, among others, criticized Tancredo by saying, "What a nut."
Tancredo picked the Rotary Club among other invitations to come to Miami because the club agrees with him about conditions in Miami, said Tancredo spokesman Carlos Espinosa.
The Rotary Club did not respond to a reporter's message.