Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.), ostensibly a presidential candidate running on an anti-immigration platform, has made his opinions unambiguously clear when it comes to those who come to the United States seeking a better life. So I suppose it shouldn’t have been too big a surprise when he asked law-enforcement officials to raid a bipartisan Capitol Hill press conference yesterday.
Democrats knew they were embracing the touchy subject of immigration when they planned an afternoon press conference with three college students whose parents came to the United States illegally.
But they were stunned when Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.), a presidential candidate who has made a name for himself as a hard-liner on immigration, called for the three students — all of whom have been in the United States for over a decade — to be arrested.
The Democrats are promoting legislation known as the Dream Act, which would give permanent residency status to certain children of illegal aliens, but only if they came to the country before age 16 and had graduated from high school. Supporters say the measure, which will see a vote [today] in the Senate, is very narrowly tailored.
Tancredo didn’t quite see it that way. “I call on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency to detain any illegal aliens at this press conference,” said Tancredo, who claims to have alerted federal authorities about the well publicized press conference. “Just because these illegal aliens are being used for political gain doesn’t mean they get immunity from the law.”
The college students at the event weren’t exactly a threat. They’re all in college (one’s a grad student), and their status has already been recognized by government agencies.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) a Dream Act sponsor, said it was “absolutely stunning” for a member of Congress to call on college students to be taken into custody at a press conference. “What does it say about America that a member of Congress would call on these young people to be arrested?” Durbin said. “I don’t think they should be arrested. They should be given a chance.”
As for the legislation itself, there’s ample reason for senators to endorse the measure.
The NYT had a good editorial on the subject today.
The Senate has a chance today to pluck a small gem from the ashes of the immigration debate. A critical procedural vote is scheduled on the Dream Act, a bill to open opportunities for college and military service to the children of undocumented immigrants.
Roughly 65,000 children graduate each year from high school into a constrained future because they cannot work legally or qualify for most college aid. These are the overlooked bystanders to the ferocious bickering over immigration. They did not ask to be brought here, have worked hard in school and could, given the chance, hone their talents and become members of the homegrown, high-skilled American work force.
The bill is one of the least controversial immigration proposals that have been offered in the last five years. But that doesn’t mean much. Like everything else not directly involving border barricades and punishment, it has been branded as “amnesty,” and has languished.
Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, a conservative Republican, did his best to argue yesterday that “the Dream act is not amnesty…. They’ve [the students] worked hard in schools but unfortunately they’re undocumented. So their options are limited.”
As for the students, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency appears to have ignored Tancredo — which, as a rule, is a good idea — and there were no arrests at yesterday’s press conference.