In a speech to the Eagle Forum Collegians on Capitol Hill, U.S. Representative Tom Tancredo spoke about the hot button issue of immigration.
Not so long ago, Tancredo was regarded as little more than a noisy pest on Capitol Hill. His colleagues shook their heads at his tireless demands for crackdowns on American employers who hire illegal immigrants and for a 700-mile-long fence along the Mexican border. But in recent months, some of those same Republicans have come to realize that, while Tancredo may be a maverick, he is gaining a large and passionate following.
His support for what he refers to as immigration reform is so outspoken that he has not been welcome in the White House since criticizing George W. Bush’s border security controls.
The congressman said he believes that “almost everyone would agree that most of America’s newcomers are working hard to make better lives for themselves and their children. We should embrace them in our communities, our schools, and our workplaces. But our welcome for immigrants already here should not blind us to the need to examine the level and makeup of future immigration.”
As for his future political endeavors, Tancredo said he intends to visit New Hampshire, and Iowa, in order to get a leader in the White House who “understands the threat illegal immigrants pose to the country’s security.”
Keeping illegal immigrants out of the United States is a question of national sovereignty, according to Tancredo.
America is wrestling with an identity crisis. Part of it is a result of what I call the cult of multiculturalism,” added Tancredo. “The idea that there is nothing—nothing—of value in Western civilization, that we have nothing to offer the world, that we have nothing to offer as a viable society, that everything we have is bad and ugly…. If we are truly in a clash of civilizations… which I happen to believe, then it is important for us to understand who we are. What does it mean to be part of Western civilization? Are there inherent values that are worth anyone’s allegiance?”
Tancredo believes there’s greater danger in doing nothing. All he wants, he says, is to see the law enforced. “I don’t like it when people call me a racist or xenophobe,” he says. “In my heart, I know that I’m not.”
Charlie Floyd is an intern with Accuracy in Media, Accuracy in Academia’s parent organization.
