At the Santa Barbara weekend retreat put on by David Horowitz, I met Congressman and former Presidential Candidate Tom Tancredo. I am pleased to report that whatever one thinks of his politics, he is a very nice guy.
The Tygrrrr Express has not been a fan of Congressman Tancredo, and the few columns dedicated to him were harsh in nature for reasons that I believed were legitimate.
Having said that, he agreed to do an interview, and could not have been friendlier.
Preceding the interview, Congressman Tancredo was part of a panel on illegal immigration. His remarks were on the record.
“Mexico is as close to a failed state as ever. Six states in Mexico have been taken over by the drug cartel. U.S. Citizens are being kidnapped in the United States on a daily basis by criminals from the other side of the border.”
“The group committing crimes is a group known as the ‘Zedas.’ The Zedas are Mexican Army guys, and they were trained at Fort Benning, Georgia.”
(Zeda is the Yiddish word for “grandfather,” but I can assure Jews and others reading this that he was not blaming elderly Jewish grandfathers for any crimes whatsoever. He would rethink this if he saw the checkered golf pants they wore in Palm Beach, but those people, dress codes notwithstanding, came here legally.)
“This is a war between Western Civilization and Radical Islam. In ‘The Art of War,” two things are needed to win. First, you have to know your enemy. Second, you have to know who you are. I don’t know if we know who we are.”
“The immigration problem is leading America into a cultural, political, and linguistic Tower of Babel.”
“The military is at war, and the rest of AMerica needs to be at war as well.”
“The Mercado fence does not divide your (Mexican) community. It divides two countries. Let’s build a fence around the Northern part of your community.”
“John McCain says he has ‘gotten the message.’ He will secure the borders ‘first.’ First? What does that mean? What comes second? Amnesty comes second.”
“A virtual fence is great for protecting a virtual nation. The vitural fence building was attacked, and a real fence was put up to protect that building where they are planning the virtual fence.”
“Former footballer and Congressman Heath Shuler sponsored the “Save Act.”
“There were refugees from Burma that came to the United States legally. They were placed in an area of Colorado that had only Casinos. They were forced to drive long drives every day for jobs they did not understood. Then one of them discovered that near Denver there were large potato farms. They are an agricultural people. They wanted to work on these farms. They went to apply for jobs there, and were told that because they were from Burma, they would not fit in. Despite their hard work ethic, the cultural differences would be too great. The people that rejected them were all Hispanics, originally from Mexico.”
After the panel, I met Congressman Tancredo, and our initial conversation was as lengthy as the interview itself.
Before doing the interview, I wanted the Congressman to have a chance to back out. I feel honesty and integrity matter more than getting the interview.
“Congressman, I am a Wall Street Journal Conservative. I disagree with you on the illegal immigration issue, but I have nothing against you personally. I wanted you to know my leanings because I do not do ambushes or hatchet jobs. If you need to have your people give my blog a thorough vetting, I understand.”
His response was surprising.
“Eric, I have had so many things written about me. I never do a vetting in advance. People will write what they are going to write. I appreciate your honesty. Just tell me, why would a smart guy like yourself favor open borders?”
I wanted to keep the conversation light.
“Congressman, for what it’s worth, my parents completely agree with you. By the time they are done battering me on this issue, I will probably agree with you as well. My selfishness started in college. The universities indoctrinated us by showing us pictures of Maria Conchita Alonso (The former Miss Venezuela looks good now, and 20 years ago was a stunner), and I thought, ‘Heck, let them all in if they look like this.'”
The Congressman laughed heartily. He genuinely found my comments funny.
I then turned serious with him.
“Congressman, I just can’t force myself to be outraged about something that doesn’t bother me. Now one can make the argument that maybe I should be outraged, but I’m just not. That could be complete ignorance on my part, but I cannot fake being upset about something. I just want you to know that I absolutely respect your position. I do not think the people who want to crack down on illegal immigration are racists. I think they are good people with a different point of view.”
The Congressman was appreciative, and continued querying me, although not in a badgering manner. At this point he was interviewing me, but I opened the door. He asked me why I was not concerned about the Mexican border.
“Congressman, I am not saying the Mexican border is unimportant, but I just don’t understand why nobody is talking about the Canadian border. The Mexicans did not blow up the towers on 9/11. Those men came in through Canada. Why are we not focusing on the Canadian border more? Also, if we focused more on Canada, it would severely reduce the ability to portray those that want border security as bigots or brown bashers.”
The Congressman informed me that he attends an annual meeting that specifically deals with Canadian border issues, and that he does take that issue seriously. Canada does get pushed to the side by some, but not by him.
“Eric, I want your parents to work on you on this issue. They are my age.”
I then went lighthearted again, and was glad that the Congressman was ok with that.
“Congressman, my dad does complain about the Florida border, but I pointed out to him that at least the Cubans vote republican. He pointed out to me that I was looking at the wrong side of the state. He wants the Florida border with South Carolina sealed off so that the New York liberals can’t get in.”
The Congressman was genuinely amused.
“Congressman, if you care about border security so much, why can’t you tell the President to seal off the red state borders so that the blue staters can’t get in. Arizona and Colorado are being overrun, but it’s by AARP voters that demand services and drain the economy.”
The Congressman gave the appearance of at least hearing a fresh, if warped, perspective.
“Eric, we can only handle one problem at a time, but I absolutely agree with you.”
“Also, the illegal aliens can’t raise my taxes. Some of them vote illegally, but many of them don’t. Yet elderly blue state liberals raise my taxes, and they have proper identification. The voting booths don’t even try to stop them.”
The Congressman would have many serious policy discussions, but I liked that fact that he was able to “lighten up.” We disagreed on the issue, but could still have pleasant conversation. Then I got serious again.
“Congressman, I think one area where you really ticked off people is when you recommended stopping legal immigration. Do you want to do that?”
His response was fair.
“RIght now I want to reduce it to about 300,000 people per year until we get the borders under control. We have to combat illegal immigration, and then we can focus on allowing in more legal immigrants.”
I wanted clarification.
“Ok, so you want to reduce legal immigration for now, but not eliminate it entirely?”
He was very specific.
“That’s correct. I am not nor have I advocated eliminating all legal immigration. I just want to reduce it now to 300,000 per year so we can focus our efforts on combatting illegal immigration. Once we succeed in that, we can allow for more legal immigration.”
I had to admit, he was not a raving lunatic.
“Congressman, you do understand that if you keep sounding reasonable, I am going to have to tell my readers that you are reasonable.”
He was very jovial about it.
“Me, reasonable? Well, we can’t have that.”
I continued.
“Congressman, you don’t even have tentacles. You look like a regular person.”
We both laughed, and while he did not sway me from my Wall Street Journal Conservative political position, I liked him more as a person than I did before.
I did not bring up his comments at a republican debate where he refused to promise to support the republican nominee. That bothered me immensely, which led to my initial harsh assessment of him. However, I decided to leave the issue be for now. I was not interested in attacking him.
As I was about to do the actual interview, he let me know that what we had discussed so far could be on the record as well. Otherwise, I would not have included it.
His wife of 32 years joined us, and she is a very nice lady. She is also passionate about the same issues that he is, and I respect the fact that the Tancredos practice what they preach. They will not hire illegal immigrant labor, and they do thorough checks. They are aware that some politicians take a hard line on illegal immigration, and then hire illegal workers for themselves. The Tancredos were not hypocrites.
Mrs. Tancredo also thanked me for being able to disagree with her husband, and still be friendly towards him. I let her know that I felt her husband was equally nice, and it was appreciated. They both laughed when I told the Congressman, “My dad thinks most politicians are completely worthless, but he likes you.”
I then asked him the questions.
1) What does President Tancredo do in his first 100 days?
TT: “I send the military to the border by executive order. I also issue an executive order to make the Social Security check system mandatory. Right now i is voluntary.”
2) Who are your favorite three political leaders?
TT: “George Washington would be first. Then John Adams. I just watched the special on him, and I enjoyed it very much. Then Ronald Reagan.”
3) How would you like to be remembered?
TT: “I want to be remmebered as a guy that actually accomplished things and made a difference. I didn’t just take up space.”
4) How do those advocating tough illegal immigration measures avoid the charge that they are engaging in bigotry?
TT: “The ability to sustain Western Civilization depends on our willingness to secure our borders. This cannot be done on a bumper sticker. It is not racial, and it is not chauvinistic.”
5) Since you are retiring fro Congress, what is the next chapter in the Tom Tancredo story?
TT: “I will still be working on issues that matter to me, including illegal immigration. I will go to states and show them that they can be like Hazeltine, Pennsylvania, as opposed to what is happening in Arizona and California.”
6) What have we gotten right and wrong since 2001?
TT: “Terrorists are not the enemy. Radical Islamists are. We must label it. Again, ‘The Art of War’ requires that we know our enemy. What we have mainly gotten wrong is our understanding of who we are. The concept of being American has been blurred.”
7) If you had 5 minutes to speak to President Bush or Vice President Cheney, what would you say to them or ask them?
TT: “I would ask if they are serious about protecting America and the West. Can they articulate what it means to be an American? This is not about color or religion. The dedication to our nation has to be as a nation, not just a place to live. When the lights go out in America, they go out all over the world.”
Tom Tancredo is not somebody that I see myself agreeing with on the illegal immigration issue any time soon, despite my parents agreeing with him.
Nevertheless, I absolutely liked him better as a person after meeting him. I was not respectful with him because he was a Congressman. I was respectful with him because even after knowing that I disagreed with him on his main issue, he was respectful of me.
Two people can be on opposite sides of a virtual fence and still shake hands.
We did, and it was a pleasure to meet and interview Congressman Tom Tancredo.
eric
Oh man, now I can’t get the picture of Jewish granfathers in their golf outfits running rogue military units in Mexico out of my head! LOL!
“Some of them vote illegally…”
You know, I’ve heard this myth repeated even more than the expression “you know.” I have never seen any evidence of it, and on top of that find it ludicrous at best to think that an “illegal” alien would risk his anonimity to bother to vote. It’s just silly. Yet another pseudo-“issue” of the far-right.
JMJ
Where’s the YouTube footage of these interviews? Don’t you bring a camera crew along with you at these conferences?
I used to view the immigration issue somewhat indifferently as you do now, but I am more and more in Tancredo’s camp. Kudos for the respectful, mildly amusing dialogue…. I think if the conversation had lasted longer, then some other important points would have been addressed.
Namely, the pressure illegal immigration puts on the criminal justice system continues to grow more and more intense. The threat to safety from organized crime setting up shop throughout the border states is highly understated. It’s easier to get more alarmed by Islamofascism you hear discussed on FoxNews while in the comforts of your whitebread apartment than feel the real dangers that, although quiet and perhaps easy to deny, are endangering the lives of thousands of innocent people caught in poverty and living in immigrant gangland havens in L.A. and elsewhere.
My intentions aren’t to characterize all illegals as agents of evil, most are just looking for a chance to work because their own country has failed them miserably. They are able to find it here quite easily despite the economy that Bush has supposedly “destroyed.” But a few bad apples, unfortunately, justify tightening the belt and cracking down. “Jamiels Law” is a perfect example…. a 17-yr old football star living in the wrong neighborhood, shot down by a gang member in the country illegally.
The argument that there is an economic benefit to illegal immigration that outweighs the threats to public safety and the burden on public finances is inherently flawed… unless you prescribe to the same ideology that justified slave labor pre-Civil War. Sure, I like my cheap lettuce as I’m sure most enjoyed cheap cotton in the 1800s, but morally we should not stand for it. The working conditions for most immigrants here in the US are below deplorable and they are regarded by their employers as less than human.
Before we turn over more power to the federal government bureacracies to clamp down on business, making matters worse in the name of trying to fix the problem, the clear solution is to put a stop to illegal immigration altogether. It will be nearly impossible to seal the borders, and efforts to circumvent will get more and more sophisticated, but if we don’t now then there will be a much greater cost in lives and resources trying to reclaim neighborhoods down the road that we are losing today.
Not trying to get too preachy here… but this is a big issue that “PC” politics is really forcing us to brush under the rug. As nice of a fellow as Tancredo sounds, there needs to be a more viable polticial leader that can tackle this head on…..
Eric, What am I missing? Many illegal immigrants send their money home, to another country, rather than spending it here…our hospitals are overrun by illegals who cannot pay for health care… our prisons are rife with illegals…our educational system is hampered by having to hire multi-lingual teachers and using our tax dollars and teachers to spend inordinate time with illegals rather than the children who are here legally…our very infrastructure is funded by tax dollars… a flat tax would help, but if we have laws, we should enforce them…
The savings illegals give to the market are nothing compared to the cost to the taxpayer.
I have to agree with Eric. Maybe it is because I live in Southern California, but I see most illegal aliens over here working hard doing jobs other won’t do. They work to improve their lot and move up the economic ladder. Many would probably have been legal aliens were the process not so time consuming and bureaucratic. I am not condoning their illegal behavior or saying we should look away, I just think that if we solved other issues this would not be as big a problem
As far as the drain on the taxpayer I think a far bigger problem are the people on welfare producing nothing and living off the state often form one generation to the next. I think there are more US citizens causing a drain on the taxpayer than illegal aliens. If we reformed the welfare state then the illegal aliens would not be a drain on the taxpayer nor would the people who have grown up here.
Yea parrot.
But I am inclined to believe that the majority of americans on welfare actually paid into the system more often than not.
http://www.rasmusen.org/x/2007/06/30/illegal-immigrants-cost-america-84year-because-of-crime/
“Crime costs America about $400 billion per year, of which about $167 billion per year is government spending– $72 billion on police, $57 billion on imprisonment, and $38 billion on courts. My blogpost Illegal Immigrants Cause 21% of Crime shows that by a conservative estimate, illegal immigrants cause 21% of crime. 21% of $400 billion is $84 billion, and 21% of $167 billion is $35 billion. (See these powerpoints for sources.)”
And thats just crime.
•In Texas, where the state comptroller estimates illegal immigrants cost hospitals $1.3 billion in 2006,
Thats just Texas.
I lived in Cal. for about 13 tears total and witnessed much the same as you and worked with a lot of illegals. I have all the sympathy in the world for them but with other costs in the country growing as they are maybe we need to make a priority somewhere.
It wouldn’t be impossible to bring the majority into “compliance” and that doesn’t take amnesty or citizenship…try going to another country and demanding both.
Welfare is an issue that has to be addressed because whilst immigrants are taking up menial and low paid work it allows the idle minority to continue rorting the system.
If there is a job available, however menial, the welfare recipient should fill the vacancy. Simple logic, but too hard to administer?
Parrothead is quite right, certain families engender a generational reliance on welfare and this has to be discouraged with financial penalties.
Border pressure is only brought about by the ease in which illegals can enter and obtain work.
Put the idle minority to work and shoot border hoppers on sight, job done.