If Tancredo Runs for President, He wins (prove me wrong)

[decoski]

Americans want border security and Bush the internationalist doesn't; therefore, immigration reform will be a major issue in the next campaign. Tancredo has been the most vocal on this issue and, should he run, would bring up the problems of illegal immigration and offer practical, sensible solutions that the public are screaming for. Couple his run with a VP or Homeland Security choice of the likes of Jim Gilchrist, and you have a slam dunk. I saw a poll on worldnetdaily today that has Tancredo in a mock poll winning handily.

[Ryokan]

Tancredo is a inconsistent nut. He would be devoured in the primaries, much less the big show. Also, big business won't fund a isolationist like him.

[Meh_Gerbil]

I think someone has to first define why immigration is a huge problem.
What I mean is: Are these people over all a positive or a negative?

[decoski]

Immigration is not a problem. ILLEGAL immigration is the problem and it should be clear to you why.

[Conductor42]

Immigration is not a problem. ILLEGAL immigration is the problem and it should be clear to you why.

Get rid of the welfare state and immigration of any type ceases to be a problem.

[Meh_Gerbil]

Immigration is not a problem. ILLEGAL immigration is the problem and it should be clear to you why.

Actually, it isn't clear to me.

We have 10-12 million illegals here now.
They keep serving me good food and they keep cleaning up my hotel room.

What is the problem, exactly?

Heck, if we are gonna deport anyone let's deport the inner city rabble and give the free housing and checks to people who actually are interested in working. Now THAT would be a plan.

[RaisingPaine]

Actually, it isn't clear to me.

We have 10-12 million illegals here now.
They keep serving me good food and they keep cleaning up my hotel room.

What is the problem, exactly?

On this we agree. I see illegal immigration as a non-starter and the radicalism expressed by Tancredo costs the GOP the Hispanic vote.

When people talk illegal immigration, in my experience they primarily mean the porous border with Mexico. This suggests that Canadian and European illegals are not a problem to them, when in fact, terrorists have demonstrated a greater propensity to enter through Canada instead of Mexico.

The difference, as best I can tell, is between those entering the country legally and overstaying a visa (as was the case with the 9/11 hijackers), and those that enter the country illegally. Quite different problems likely requiring quite different solutions.

Heck, if we are gonna deport anyone let's deport the inner city rabble and give the free housing and checks to people who actually are interested in working. Now THAT would be a plan.

You've got a pre-1996 view of welfare. Welfare reform passed by Clinton and the Republican Congress pretty much does away with that notion (although even before that 2/3 of the people on receiving welfare benefits were non-inner-city whites; the average time of receiving benefits was less than 18 months, as I recall).

[Thomas More]

Actually, it isn't clear to me.

We have 10-12 million illegals here now.
They keep serving me good food and they keep cleaning up my hotel room.

What is the problem, exactly?

Heck, if we are gonna deport anyone let's deport the inner city rabble and give the free housing and checks to people who actually are interested in working. Now THAT would be a plan.

Well maybe because your county does not get stuck with a 100 million dollar annual health bill from these people. Nor are you exposed to the rampant drug trafficking and other malfesence that the cheap labour for those crooked motel owners bring with them. In Houston construction workers cannot get jobs because Illeagals will do the same back breaking labour for 1/3 of the price why should Bob the Builder hire natives when he needs that second BMW.

[Octavian]

Kind of agree with you....the only interest I would have in border security would be to prevent terrorists an easy door in the US. Besides that....I'm with you whole heartedly.

Oct

Actually, it isn't clear to me.

We have 10-12 million illegals here now.
They keep serving me good food and they keep cleaning up my hotel room.

What is the problem, exactly?

Heck, if we are gonna deport anyone let's deport the inner city rabble and give the free housing and checks to people who actually are interested in working. Now THAT would be a plan.

[Meh_Gerbil]

Kind of agree with you....the only interest I would have in border security would be to prevent terrorists an easy door in the US. Besides that....I'm with you whole heartedly.

Oct

You give me 1 million dollars and a 1 ton package and I'll get it into the USA in less than 2 weeks - in tact. Drugs and other illegal things get into this country by the ton and with thousands of miles of borders there is no way to stop it.

IMHO, the nuclear age demands a different type of thinking about defense.

A weapon the size of a foot locker could come in on a fishing boat or immersed in gasoline in a large tanker. With nuclear weapons, you don't even have to get it on shore for it to be devastating - you can blow the thing in international waters and create a wave that takes out coastal cities for miles.

Really people, we have to think differently about this.

[One Bad Pig]

Get rid of the welfare state and immigration of any type ceases to be a problem.

I doubt it. We weren't exactly begging people to immigrate before welfare.

[decoski]

I'm reading Tancredo's book, In Mortal Danger. He lays out the case brilliantly for securing our borders. I highly recommend it.

[Octavian]

Again I agree....we need to think differently about security. But Tancredo (a second generation American himself) pretty much....IMO....doesn't like hispanics or any other would be immigrants who aren't European whites.

Sure, it's easy enough to state the obvious: illegal immigrants are breaking the law, bla bla bla. I like the rest of us are sons & daughters or grand sons/daughters of immigrants & frankly I haven't met too many immigrants (and I live in NYC surrounded by immigrants) who I didn't like (and I'm white as heck).

Sure, we need to have better security....but why not have an open borders policy that simply admits the reality. We need immigrants to grow & prosper; therefore, might as well have a free flowing border: in other words, if Mexico can get it's act together & provide its people with good identification (e.g., a passport that can't easily be forged), then why not simply allow our neighbors to drive or take a bus in???? This way our troops & border guards can focus on terrorists????

Nothing against the Tancredo fan club out there....I can understand the frustration. But this is the way America's always been. And I can tell you that in my experience Mexicans are not coming here for welfare. In fact I don't know of any immigrants who collect welfare that I've ever met. At any rate; I think this situation will work itself out & there's probably way more pressing problems out there.

Oct

You give me 1 million dollars and a 1 ton package and I'll get it into the USA in less than 2 weeks - in tact. Drugs and other illegal things get into this country by the ton and with thousands of miles of borders there is no way to stop it.

IMHO, the nuclear age demands a different type of thinking about defense.

A weapon the size of a foot locker could come in on a fishing boat or immersed in gasoline in a large tanker. With nuclear weapons, you don't even have to get it on shore for it to be devastating - you can blow the thing in international waters and create a wave that takes out coastal cities for miles.

Really people, we have to think differently about this.

[geochron]

Well maybe because your county does not get stuck with a 100 million dollar annual health bill from these people. Nor are you exposed to the rampant drug trafficking and other malfesence that the cheap labour for those crooked motel owners bring with them. In Houston construction workers cannot get jobs because Illeagals will do the same back breaking labour for 1/3 of the price why should Bob the Builder hire natives when he needs that second BMW.

Isn't that the free market in action?

Why should the state step in to keep construction wages high?

[geochron]

Actually, it isn't clear to me.

We have 10-12 million illegals here now.
They keep serving me good food and they keep cleaning up my hotel room.

What is the problem, exactly?

Heck, if we are gonna deport anyone let's deport the inner city rabble and give the free housing and checks to people who actually are interested in working. Now THAT would be a plan.

Exactly. I have no problem with people who want to come to the UK to work for a living, pay taxes and feed their families.

What bugs me about the politics of immigration is that our government uses it to show how tough it is and sets quotas for deporting people whose appeals for asylum have been turned down. Somehow the relevant authorities are very good at bursting into homes at 4 am and deporting the mother or father, and very poor at picking up the heavily armed drug dealers and the convicted criminals who get to the end of their sentences.