**Tancredo Calls President\'s Immigration Proposals \"Dangerous and
Unworkable\"**

** **

\"Without secure borders, any guest worker program simply puts
employers\' craving for cheap labor ahead of national security\....The
president\'s proposals add new incentives for illegal immigration, which
inevitably means increased risks of terrorism.\"

** **

**WASHINGTON, D.C.** - Rep. Tancredo (R-CO) today criticized President
Bush\'s immigration reform proposals as \"dangerous and unworkable\" and
predicted they would be rejected by Congress.

 

\"It is dangerous to offer additional incentives and rewards for illegal
immigration while giving only lip service to border security,\" said
Tancredo.

 

\"The President and his advisers are totally ignoring the nation\'s
experience with the ill-fated 1986 amnesty program, which did not
deliver on its promises of border security and only encouraged a new
wave of illegal immigration. I don\'t think Congress will make this same
mistake again.\"

 

\"The guest worker program the President proposes is transparently
unworkable without genuine border security,\" Tancredo noted. \"Neither
Mexicans nor anyone else will go through the hassle and paperwork of
seeking legal jobs as long as the border is porous and employers can
ignore the laws with impunity.\"

 

Tancredo reminded the White House that it is not only Mexican who come
across our borders illegally and that terrorists can enter the country
as easily as people seeking jobs. \"Over 37,000 non-Mexicans were
apprehended in 2002 crossing our borders illegally, and over 7500 of
these were from countries that are known to harbor terrorists,\" said
Tancredo.

 

\"The President says he opposes amnesty but his plan is exactly that,\"
noted Tancredo. \"He tries to redefine amnesty as meaning a grant of
citizenship, but that has never been the case. His plan will allow
people already here illegally to gain access to legal status, and that
is amnesty.\"

 

\"This proposal is disingenuous and misleading,\" Tancredo said. \"Any
genuine temporary worker program must require workers to apply for jobs
from their home country and then return home at the end of employment.\"

 

\"The President\'s praise for the values brought to America by many
generations of legal immigrants is a sentiment shared by all
Americans,\" said Tancredo. \"But this sentiment cannot justify allowing
a continued flow of illegal aliens across our porous borders. The
president\'s proposals give only lip service to border control. Genuine
border control must be achieved *before* any guest worker program can be
given serious consideration.\"

 

Tancredo also questioned the White house claim that the proposals aim to
facilitate \"temporary workers\" only. Allowing people to travel freely
back and forth across the border does nothing to encourage illegal
aliens to return home permanently,\" Tancredo said.

 

\"The claim that Mexicans and other illegal workers are taking only jobs
Americans don\'t want is false,\" Tancredo said. \"The wages for
millions of jobs are being kept artificially low *BECAUSE* there is a
continuing supply of cheap labor,\" Tancredo noted. \"If you stop this
flow of cheap labor, wages for most of those jobs will rise and citizens
and legal residents will seek those jobs.\"

 

Tancredo said he was saddened to see that only representatives of the
Mexican government and Hispanic political organizations like LULAC were
invited to attend the President\'s speech. \"If this is truly a proposal
to reduce illegal immigration, why didn\'t the White House invite the
widows of Border Patrol agents who died defending our borders or the
widows of police officers who have been killed by criminal illegal
aliens who cross our borders with ease. I guess the President didn\'t
think these families would be impressed by his proposals.\"

 

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