Tancredo: Immigration Man Among Immigration Men
March 24, 2007
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- Surrounded by hundreds of guns of all sorts and a Taser or two, a presidential candidate and several citizens complained about security.
In fact, the only topic of the candidate or those he chatted with was immigration. You heard nary a word about Iraq at the Cedar Rapids Gun Show at Hawkeye Downs Fairgrounds. It was all immigration, or rather, illegal immigration.
The candidate for immigration reform, Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado, worked a receptive room this Saturday afternoon. He was preaching to the choir, a choir of voices who want either immigration laws changed or enforced more strictly to keep illegal aliens from taking U.S. jobs while not paying U.S. taxes.
"I like this place!" Tancredo exclaimed in the middle of an animated give-and-take with people who had an immigration complaint of their own for each the congressman cited to them. "This is a good crowd. You know the issues."
It was one issue, actually. Nothing was said between candidate and potential Iowa caucus-goers on Iraq, Iran, health care, the economy or the environment. Their political world seemed to begin and end at the border separating the United States from Mexico.
"You cannot ignore this," Tancredo said. "If you think you're gonna solve any of this (immigration) stuff by pretending it doesn't exist, you're crazy. Most folks who are either running for office or are my colleagues in Congress do not want to deal with this."
Those engaged in discussion with Tancredo amid all the Glocks and Smith & Wessons did want to deal with it.
"As a citizen, I'm supporting him,'' said Craig Halverson of Griswold, Iowa. "I agree with what he has to say. He's the one Christian conservative that's out there running. He's pro-life and I'm pro-life. He's for the Second Amendment, and I'm for the Second Amendment. And he's for the border being sealed."
Halverson, retired after 22 years in the U.S. Air Force, is the director of the non-profit Iowa Minuteman Civil Defense Corps.
"I'm trying to grow chapters of the Minutemen in every county in the state," he said. "I want all my guys to get with the Legislature and let the Legislature know we want them to do the people's work. English is the official language of this state. We want to keep that. For over 230 years, English has been our language. I'm happy with that and the majority of Americans are happy with that. Why is there a push for us to change the language to Spanish? I am against that."
Halverson stressed that he supported Tancredo only as a citizen, not in his Minutemen capacity. He did, however, wear a T-shirt touting Tancredo. He also wore a black armband.
"I'm not mourning for the brave American soldiers that are dying in Iraq," he said, "who I support all the way. I'm mourning for the 47,000 innocent American citizens that have died by the hands of illegal aliens since 9/11."
Last week, the subject of immigration came up often for Sen. John McCain during his campaign swing through Iowa, catching him by surprise. “Immigration is probably a more powerful issue here than almost any place that I’ve been,” McCain said.
"Wherever he went," Halverson said, "the topic was illegal aliens. They're not illegal immigrants. The proper term is 'aliens.' They are aliens to our country. He was in shock because that's the only topic, basically, that people put to him. And he's from Arizona, where it's out of control. Why is he shocked? It's across the country now."
The Minutemen want to identify illegal aliens, who employs and houses them, and demand that the government and law-enforcement agencies enforce immigration laws. Minutemen, Halverson said, "are retired military, retired police officers. Just good, strong American citizens, patriotic. They're tired of seeing what's going on, and they're tired of the government not enforcing the laws.
"I am, too. I've got nine kids. I've got a lot of grandkids. I'm worried what their future brings. I'm scared to death because of what's going on in this country, and that's what got me involved."
But what about ... Iraq?
"President Bush says we're at war," Halverson said. "Why are we sending our National Guard over to Iraq when we're at war with terrorists? Our border should be secured first. Take care of the home base first, and then you go somewhere else and do your wars or whatever you need to do. You take care of home first, and that means sealing the borders.
"Two-thirds of the American people are with us. They're just not out there. But the number is growing."
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