Tancredo for President -- Official Blog

Immigration reform is Tancredo's legacy

Hope all of you have had a wonderful Christmas!  While we are all disappointed that Congressman Tancredo had to drop out, I think we can all agree that he has moved the immigration debate to be more favorable for our cause than ever. This article sums up everything and is a favorite of Congressman Tancredo's:

Immigration reform is Tancredo's legacy

MARY RAE BRAGG TH staff writer

For someone who never got into double digits in campaign polling, Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo probably did more to influence the 2007 presidential debate than any "non-contender" in memory. Tancredo first brought his rallying call for immigration policy reform to Dubuque 21„2 years ago, saying he was determined to make America's open borders an issue in the 2008 campaign. Hard to believe now, but in the 2004 campaign immigration was a non-issue and Tancredo told the Telegraph Herald he was going to "force candidates to deal with it" in the next cycle. He promised that if no other candidate came forward to carry the reform banner, he would. And when it got to be the first of this year and no one had, Tancredo did. He worked Iowa and paid as much attention to Dubuque as any of the Republican candidates, more than most of them. Never mind that Dubuque is not regarded as a GOP stronghold, Tancredo was intent on his message and it never changed. Those who dismissed him as a one-issue wonder, an opportunist seeking to build a career on xenophobia, seemingly underestimated and misunderstood the congressman. His Dubuque audiences never saw Tancredo act like an angry man, just a man convinced that porous borders provide an entrance for trouble of all kinds. His message was picking up steam as the 2006 congressional races opened. Republican candidate Mike Whalen, of Davenport, Iowa, appeared taken aback when he came to Dubuque to announce his candidacy and the first question he got was from a man worried about illegal immigrants. Later in the campaign, Whalen said he was getting more questions about immigration policy than any other issue. Who would have thought Iowans could get worked up over the Mexican border? Tancredo, for one. It was an issue that made liberals uncomfortable and still does. On one hand, they didn't want to be mean to people risking their lives to come here because of poverty. Still, it didn't make sense to let people flow into the country without them being held accountable. As Tancredo called reporters together Thursday in Des Moines to tell them he was pulling out of the Republican presidential primary, he said he was doing so because, "I believe the cause demands I do so." There are more viable Republican candidates who adopted his "no amnesty" message as their own, Tancredo said, and he feared if he stayed in the race, he would draw votes away from them, allowing those with "abysmal records on immigration" to win. Tancredo endorsed Mitt Romney's campaign, coming at a time when former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee is rising above Romney in Iowa polling. An article in Thursday's Washington Post says a Post-ABC News poll shows three out of 10 Republican voters see immigration as their top issue. While Tancredo can find encouragement in those numbers, another Republican candidate, Arizona Sen. John McCain, is worried that his party is hurting its chances of keeping the White House when it continues the anti-amnesty drumbeat. Talking with the Telegraph Herald editorial board earlier this month, McCain said the immigration debate "could make it seem Republicans don't like (Hispanics)." McCain noted that President Bush got 44 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2004 and "could not have won without that margin." But by 2006, the margin of support for Republican candidates was down to 26 percent, McCain said. He got 70 percent of his state's Hispanic vote in 2004, he said, "but that was after 20 years of work." McCain readily acknowledges that he hurt himself as a primary candidate by joining with Bush and Democrats to put together an immigration reform package that went nowhere in Congress. McCain's campaign has picked up momentum in recent weeks, so he still has a chance of getting the GOP nomination. But if he doesn't, it may be that the determined little congressman from Colorado was David to McCain's Goliath.

Articles

Joseph Farah has written an excellent piece in favor of the Congressman on WorldNet Daily.  Make sure to check it out here.

Also, there is an intersting article regarding Mike Huckabee and the Council on Foreign Relations by Jerome Corsi on the same site.  You can read it here.

Newsweek Quote on Tom

Tancredo wins one: No-show is victor at debate

NH Union Leader

ALL BUT ONE Republican candidate for President participated in a debate in Miami on Sunday. Unfortunately for the vast majority of Americans, the debate was entirely incomprehensible -- because it was entirely in Spanish.

Univision, which sponsored and broadcast the debate, did not air the questions or the candidates' answers in English. So the candidates were left addressing only people fluent in Spanish.

The one candidate who did not show up, Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado, had the right idea. He boycotted the Spanish-only debate, saying that naturalized citizens must by law speak English. So, to whom were the candidates speaking Sunday night? It would seem that there is one answer: illegal immigrants.

Gilmer!

Gilmer Hernandez is a former Deputy Sherriff from Rocksprings, TX.  In a case similar to that of the Ramos and Compean fiasco, the case even prosecuted by Johnny Sutton, Gilmer was sent to prison for doing his job.  His crime was attempting to shoot out the tires of a van carrying illegal aliens trying to run him over.  After spending 11 long months in a federal prison he was finally let free.  Unfortunately, with a felony conviction he has many doors closed to him, albeit a wrong and terrible conviction.

Needless to say, it has been a long and tough year for him and his family.

The Tancredo campaign would like you to take a few moments and send him a Christmas card or a letter thanking him for his service.  Your thoughts, prayers, and letters are greatly appreciated and I hope you will find the time to do this.

To read more about Gilmer, go here: http://www.freegilmer.com/

To send him a letter, direct it here:

Gilmer Hernandez

General Delivery

Rocksprings, TX 78880

To send an email: [email protected]

Congressman Tancredo has been supporting Gilmer and he asks you to do the same.  He is standing next to Gilmer in this picture:

Cavuto 12-6

Cory Voorhis Legal Defense Fund

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”)  tagged agent Cory Voorhis as a future superstar while still in his 20’s. By the time he was in his mid-30’s, he was running a five-year investigation which led to the arrest of Pedro Castorena whose crime family had for two decades been providing forged documents to Mexican gangs and illegal migrants to help them get into the United States. One of Castorena’s deputies has already been convicted, but the kingpin awaits trial.

In 2006, former Denver district Attorney Bill Ritter, a Democrat, was running against Republican congressman Bob Beauprez to replace Bill Owens as the next Governor of Colorado.  Cory Voorhis saw an article in which Ritter, defending himself against charges by the Beauprez campaign of being weak on prosecuting illegal immigrants, said he was “distressed that federal immigration officials didn't pick up criminals who were illegal immigrants”, effectively blaming ICE for crimes committed by illegal aliens.

Read the full article here

Donate to Cory Voorhis legal defense fund

TANCREDO WAS RIGHT!

Does this sound familiar?  Congressman Tancredo has been saying that this could happen, even depicting it in our latest TV ad.  The critics accused us of "fear-mongering," what do you think they will say now?

Islamic terrorists target Army base -- in Arizona

November 26, 2007

By Sara A. Carter - Fort Huachuca, the nation's largest intelligence-training center, changed security measures in May after being warned that Islamist terrorists, with the aid of Mexican drug cartels, were planning an attack on the facility.

Fort officials changed security measures after sources warned that possibly 60 Afghan and Iraqi terrorists were to be smuggled into the U.S. through underground tunnels with high-powered weapons to attack the Arizona Army base, according to multiple confidential law enforcement documents obtained by The Washington Times.

"A portion of the operatives were in the United States, with the remainder not yet in the United States," according to one of the documents, an FBI advisory that was distributed to the Defense Intelligence Agency, the CIA, Customs and Border Protection and the Justice Department, among several other law enforcement agencies throughout the nation. "The Afghanis and Iraqis shaved their beards so as not to appear to be Middle Easterners."

Read the whole article here

Drug smuggler shot by pair of Border Agents indicted

EL PASO — An admitted Mexican drug smuggler shot by a pair of U.S. Border Patrol agents later convicted in the shooting has been charged with smuggling marijuana, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton announced Thursday.

Osvaldo Aldrete Davila was arrested Thursday at an international port of entry in El Paso. A sealed indictment was issued in October charging him with possession with the intent to distribute a controlled substance, conspiracy to import a controlled substance, and conspiracy with intent to distribute a controlled substance. According to the indictment, Aldrete committed the crimes in September and October 2005, several months after he was shot in the buttocks while fleeing from a pair of Border Patrol agents.

The agents, Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos, were convicted last year of shooting Aldrete and lying about it. The agents were each sentenced to more than a decade in prison.

Aldrete is scheduled to appear in federal court in El Paso today.

"For more than a year, critics of the prosecution ... have complained that Aldrete, the fleeing, unarmed drug smuggler they shot, should have been prosecuted for drug smuggling," Sutton said in a written statement. "I have repeatedly said that if we obtain sufficient competent and admissible evidence against Aldrete, we would prosecute him."

Aldrete's shooting and the subsequent arrest and conviction of Ramos and Compean caused a national firestorm among conservative lawmakers and others. Critics of Sutton have repeatedly called the prosecution unjustified and the sentences extreme.

In July, conservative Republicans won initial House support for an effort to cut federal funding to house the former agents in prison.

U.S. Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas, said Thursday that Aldrete's arrest and indictment should have come sooner.

"It's about time they arrested the drug dealer," Culberson said in a statement issued by his office. "It's long past time for them to release agents Ramos and Compean."

Joe Loya, Ramos' father-in-law, said the indictment was not surprising.

"He is a career criminal who has been smuggling drugs since he was 14," Loya said. "Who I really feel sorry for is his wife and children."

Opponents of the prosecution against Ramos and Compean have previously argued that Sutton's office ignored evidence that Aldrete, who acknowledged smuggling drugs the day he was shot in February, 2005, had smuggled drugs a second time. He was given immunity for the first smuggling attempt to testify against the agents.

According to testimony at the agents' trial, Aldrete encountered Border Patrol agents after crossing illegally into the U.S. from Mexico in a marijuana-loaded van. While fleeing from agents, he crashed the van and tried to run back to Mexico on foot.

Before he could make it back across the Rio Grande, Aldrete struggled with Compean, who later fired more than a dozen shots at the fleeing man. Ramos fired a single shot after finding Compean on the ground, shooting at Aldrete. It was Ramos' bullet that hit Aldrete.

Compean testified at trial that he shot in self-defense and fighting with Aldrete and then seeing what he believed to be a gun in Aldrete's hand. Ramos said he fired in defense of Compean.

Aldrete, who was severely wounded but managed to flee back around the river, denied having a gun and testified that he ran from Compean after the agent tried to hit him with the butt of a shotgun.

Both men acknowledged not reporting the incident. Several other Border Patrol agents at the scene that day who also did not report the shooting were not prosecuted.

The agents began serving their sentences in January.

If convicted of the drug charges, Aldrete faces up to 40 years in prison and a $2 million fine.

Spitzer Drops Bid to Offer Licenses More Widely

WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 — Gov. Eliot Spitzer formally announced today that he would abandon his plan to give driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, conceding that his best efforts to sell New Yorkers on the merits of his proposal had clearly failed.

Read the article