Posted on June 13, 2005

Immigration’s U.S. Rep. Tancredo’s Top Topic

Dan McLean, Union-Leader (Manchester, NH), June 12

NASHUA — U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, a vocal critic of President Bush’s immigration policy, announced he would run for President in 2008 — if he could not find a more viable candidate to adopt his views on illegal immigration.

The Colorado Republican announced his potential candidacy yesterday after speaking for roughly 50 minutes to the Nashua Republican City Committee at Langdon Place, an assisted living facility in Nashua.

“I don’t consider myself a candidate today,” Tancredo said when asked if he is considering a Presidential run, adding, “If no one will take this banner up (illegal immigration) — and I say this with great trepidation — yeah, I will.

“I don’t know what else to do,” he added.

“I say, ‘Run,’” yelled Claire McHugh of Nashua from a couch in the back of the room.

Tancredo’s primary goal, however, is to “push (illegal immigration) to the forefront of the Presidential debate” and persuade another Presidential hopefuls with more stature and resources than he to “take this banner up, not just with words, but their heart.”

Many who enter the country illegally are just looking for jobs, Tancredo said, but others are “coming to kill you, and you, and me, and my children, and my grandchildren.”

{snip}

Tancredo had said that the blood of another terrorist attack would be on the hands of the President and Congress because they have failed to tighten the nation’s borders.

“He’s just not with us,” Tancredo said yesterday, with respect to President Bush on curbing illegal immigration.

{snip}