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Posted: October 24, 2007 5:49 PM
Tancredo Tries to Arrest Illegal Immigrants on Capitol Hill
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Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., captured headlines this week for his showdown with Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., over the Dream Act, which would grant educational opportunities and legal status to children of illegal immigrants.

Tancredo encouraged Immigration and Customs Enforcement
to arrest any potential illegal immigrants meeting with Durbin on Capitol Hill over the benefits of the measure. By Wednesday afternoon, the Dream Act had failed in a Senate cloture vote,,
which is needed for legislation to proceed.

Although Durbin questioned the wisdom of having would-be Dream Act beneficiaries taken into ICE custody, Tancredo said the legislation amounts to amnesty. In a statement, Tancredo also said Durbin was using the students for his own political gain.

The spat with Durbin wasn’t Tancredo’s only chance to fan the anti-illegal immigration flames over the past week. He introduced

legislation to nullify a court ruling that bars the federal government from sending Social Security “no-match letters” to employers of potentially fraudulent or ineligible workers.

In Florida last weekend, a local GOP leader from Broward County attempted to defend Miami — which the congressman has compared to a third-world country — to Tancredo while he was in Orlando for the Fox News debate. According to the Sun-Sentinel, the reaction wasn’t cordial.

Last Friday, the conservative Town Hall praised Tancredo’s speech to the Family Research Council audience in Washington. While there, Tancredo once again positioned himself as a true conservative and said immigration and an emphasis on multiculturalism are “creating a linguistic and a cultural tower of Babel.”

His campaign is inviting potential supporters to “come shoot with a straight shooter” in a shooting contest at the Izaak Walton League in Muscatine, Iowa, on Thursday. He is slated to follow that event with an appearance at Muscatine High School, along with events in Maquoketa and Davenport on Friday.

Tancredo’s itinerary takes him across the river into western Illinois on Friday evening, but back into Iowa with an appearance in Norwalk on Saturday afternoon. On Saturday night, he is expected to take part in the Ronald Reagan Dinner in Des Moines. Events are planned in Des Moines, Ames, and Odebolt on Sunday, as well as Storm Lake on Monday.