Tancredo Weighs In On Senate Collapse

Tom Tancredo takes the Republican dominated Senate Judiciary Committee to task and vows that their version of the immigration will no pass Congressional muster in the House, and does not have broad support of the American public:

WASHINGTON - Immigration reform legislation is doomed to stall this year if the full U.S. Senate passes the type of guest worker bill that cleared a committee hurdle Monday, U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo said.

Tancredo, R-Colo., issued a statement lashing out at the Senate Judiciary Committee after it approved a bipartisan bill that could grant legal work status to millions of immigrants who entered the country illegally.

"No plan with amnesty and a massive increase in foreign workers will pass the House," said Tancredo, who leads the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus.

"Amnesty and foreign workers are fundamentally incompatible with the House's approach and, according to every recent poll, they are not what Americans want."

Tancredo has the cojones to take on not only the administration and critics within his own party, but those who level baseless and vitriolic charges of racism at his proposals. His single-issue focus, however, threatens to reduce him to the role of demagogue. Tancredo the man and Tancredo the politician are better than that, and he must steer clear of being reduced to the polarizing focal point of this debate, rather than the issue at hand. It is not about Tancredo, or Republicans, or even the impact on the economy that immigrant supporters claim incessantly.

Regardless of political and economic implications, it is ultimately about the legal status of those who are in the country, other than current U. S. citizens and excluding all those who are here for travel, on student or work visas, and have no intention of staying here. It is an issue whose outcome will surely disappoint the losing side, and become the point of contention the next time the issue resurfaces. This is not an issue likely to fade anytime soon, and will probably still be a large issue in the 2008 Presidential election, either as a smoldering unresolved leftover from this year, or used as a weapon to bash the opposition as a result of the still yet undecided outcome. Stay tuned.