Tancredo

Tancredo recently traded remarks with Howard Dean, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, over Dean's siding with illegal immigrants. Dean criticized Tancredo's use of illegals as "scapegoats", while Tancredo put down Dean's comments, calling upon Dean's screaming during his campaign in 2004. Their scuffle is the latest example in the partisan polarization that is dividing the American government.

In addition, Tancredo continued his request that pardons be given to the two American border agents who are in prison for shooting at an illegal alien attempting to cross into the US. since this episode, the alien, Osvaldo Davila has pleaded guilty to drug smuggling, which has occured since his case against the border agents. It should be noted that following the shooting, Davila was given border crossing cards and free american healthcare. Tancredo laments, "How can we let Ramos and Compean rot in a jail cell based on the testimony of a 3-time drug smuggler?”, and continued “The legitimacy of this verdict seems to diminish with each passing day.”

tancredo up to...

On Thrusday the 18th of this month, Tancredo gave a press release which he commented on the pope saying “I suspect the Pope's immigration comments may have less to do with spreading the gospel than they do about recruiting new members of the church. This isn't preaching it is 'faith-based' marketing.” The pope told the US Bishops that they should "continue to welcome the immigrants who join your ranks today, to share their joys and hopes, to support them in their sorrows and trials, and to help them flourish in their new home." Tancredo thought this statement was exactly what this country does not need. In commenting on this in his press release, he did not insult the American people, he insulted the bishops. The pope simply stated that we should do everything in our power to stop violence so that “immigrants may lead dignified lives.” Tancredo is being critizied very much for his actions in the press release.

On Saturday, Tancredo renewed his pardon call for the Border Agents who are going to jail. Tancredo’s reasoning behind this is that we should listen to the border agents and not the testimonies of 3 drug smugglers. Tancredo stated “Along with a pardon or commutation of Ramos and Compean (border agents), I hope Mr. Davila (drug smuggler) will be given at least 12 years in prison at the very least – the same sentence Agent Compean received for doing his job.”

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/usa/2008/04/tancredo_on_the_popes_faithbas.html

http://www.borderfirereport.net/latest/tancredo-calls-for-pardon-for-border-agent.html

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/immigration/entries/2008/04/17/tancredo_criticizes_pope_on_im.html

Tancredo Update

Tom Tancredo probed General Petraeus about gang infiltration into the US Army in the general's latest period of questioning over progress in Iraq. A problem recently spotlighted by Stars and Stripes, military literature, has grown significantly, and as Tancredo points out, is extensive training made possible by American taxpayers. The report of Tancredo's probing claims various news agencies have also documented the increase in gang activity inside the military, and even in some cases to have stretched to graffiti at US military bases in Iraq.

In response to calls to boycott the 2008 Olympics because of China's human rights violations, Tancredo proposed legislation that would impose a trade embargo upon China. He suggests such legislation as a more quality way to effect change because such an embargo would hit china "in its pocketbooks". However, such an embargo is unlikely because China is one of, if not the, the US' greatest trade partners.

Tancredo

Tancredo has recently been demanding that President Bush should give a full pardon to the two US Border Agents who were sentenced to approximately 11 years in federal prison. Their offense seems to be that a Mexican drug smuggler that brought 743 pounds of marijuana across the US border was wounded. There must be more to this story for the Judge to give 11+ year sentences to federal border patrol officers. The illegal drug smuggler cut a deal to testify against the agents. In exchange for his testimony he was provided with free health care, granted immunity and given border crossing cards.

It appears that the agents did not handle the drug smuggler appropriately and that there should be some consequences for their actions. It seems that these "Border Two-Good Guys" spent their careers protecting the US border keeping drugs from crossing, and now Bush thanks them by sending them to federal prison to sit and rot with the coyotes and drug dealers they have spent their lives fighting. Tancredo concludes that "it is downright shameful that Bush is allowing" this to happen.

Tancredo is outraged at Bush who "commuted the sentence of yet another drug dealer, but not the agents who were on our front lines of defense against terrorists and coyotes" He stated that he felt that the agents would have had a better chance getting Bush's attention if they had helped smuggle the pot in. Bush recently also commuted the prison term for another convicted crack-cocaine dealer and pardoned 15 other people including 5 felony drug dealers, yet he has refused to commute or pardon the sentences of the 2 US Border agents. Tancredo calls this "Bush March Madness".

On the other hand, if these border patrol agents ripped out the drug dealers’ fingernails, used thumb screws, poured acid in their body, and poked out one of their eyes, there might be a good case for the 11 year sentences. I think it is easy for Tancredo to portray this action as the Border Patrol Officers against the Drug Dealer. However, I believe there is much more to the story since so much is obviously omitted. The press release by Tancredo is certainly incomplete and very misleading.

http://tancredo.house.gov/PRArticle.aspx?NewsID=1347

Tancredo

Joe Guzzardi, a New York lawyer, wrote an article which essentially said that he does not believe that Duncan Hunter and Tom Tancredo had the rhetorical and political skills to win the race. He criticized the “patriotic immigration reformers” (Hunter and Tancredo) because they could not inspire Republicans. Although they both did drop out of the race, they did hold strong on what they believe in and felt that immigration was the most important issue the United States is facing right now. Although Tancredo is not true presidential material, he did become popular and did open many peoples eyes to this topic and will continue to do so in the future.

Tom, Tan Tancredo

Tom Tancredo has not been doing a whole lot lately. Other than his strong stance on immigration, he really hasn’t been involved with very much. He did announce though that campaigning about the border isn’t doing anything and we need to find a plan to secure the border. This really doesn’t relate to Tancredo’s news in recent weeks, but I found an article where Tancredo said that if Muslim terrorists attacked the US, we could bomb Islamic holy sites of worship. I thought it was interesting because that seems extremely drastic. Personally, I think if we bomb Islamic holy sites of worship, we will start an entirely new war, one that we do not need.

Art Competition

Tom Tancredo announced a new competition for high school students from his Congressional district, Colorado's 6th. Any HS student in the area wishing to enter must submit an original art piece, and it may not be a collage of photograph. This competition offers students in the area an opportunity to showcase their artistic abilities. Other than that, Tancredo has been fairly quiet while going about his standard congressional work.