Posted on April 18, 2008

Congressman Tancredo Blasts Pope on His Pro-Immigrant Stance

Mary Ann Akers, Washington Post, April 17, 2008

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Even though Tancredo attended the pope’s birthday reception, he was not happy with Benedict—at all.

The pope on Wednesday called for welcoming immigrants to the United States and even issued a statement in Spanish telling the Latino community he would urge President Bush to grant legal status to illegal immigrants living in the states.

That’s the kind of thing that makes Tancredo, who staked his now-defunct presidential campaign on an anti-immigration platform that included building a gigantic fence along the border of Mexico, go ballistic, to put it mildly.

Tancredo was fit to be tied by a line he read in an Agence France-Presse story that quoted the pope as saying the United States must do “everything possible to fight . . . all forms of violence so that immigrants may lead dignified lives.”

“I would like to know what part of our lax immigration policy is considered violent,” Tancredo said in a statement provided to The Sleuth. “I fail to see how accepting more refugees than any other nation—and providing free health care, education, housing and social service benefits to millions of illegal aliens is in any way ‘violent’ or ‘degrading.’”

Basically, Tancredo doesn’t want Pope Benedict meddling in U.S. policy matters. “It is not in his job description to engage in American politics,” Tancredo said.

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