Washington – U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo said he has suspected for weeks that the Senate would include a temporary-worker program with a path to citizenship in its immigration legislation, so he wasn’t stunned Thursday at news of a Senate deal.
Tancredo, R-Littleton, a national leader of the anti-illegal immigration forces, said there is still a chance the Senate compromise will fall apart – maybe as soon as today, when its proponents must round up 60 senators to cut off debate and move to a final roll call vote.
“They may not have enough votes,” Tancredo said. “If they don’t, then that bill is of course dead.”
But if the Senate deal passes, Tancredo said, then he and the other hardliners will fight on, as the House and Senate must yet resolve the differences in their bills – no easy task with such a volatile topic.
The Senate bill won’t muster the support of a majority of Republicans in the House, he predicted, noting that House Speaker Dennis Hastert has promised not to bring legislation to the floor that is not supported by a majority of House Republicans.
On the other hand, and Hastert has signaled a willingness to negotiate.
“I have been around here long enough to know (things can change) when arms start breaking and pressure starts being applied,” Tancredo said.
Tancredo said the Senate bill is unworkable.
Among the two million newly-arrived illegal immigrants who are expected to be sent home, “no illegal alien with half a brain would admit that they came here after 2004.
“And how could law enforcement tell? The Senate deal asks people who have broken the law for years – often using fraudulent documents – to provide proof that they lived here.
“I can guarantee that many of those fraudulent documents…will be used to obtain legal status,” Tancredo said.
