Remarks by Representative Tom Tancredo (R-CO) at NRA's "Celebration of American Values" Conference in Washington, DC -- 9/21/07

REP. TANCREDO:  Hi.  I'm Tom Tancredo, and I want to say thank you very much for letting me join you today by this medium.  I wish I could be there in person.  I'm on the way to New Hampshire and going to be doing a little campaigning up there.  You actually might wish that you were with me in New Hamsphire, because we're going to do a couple of shoots while we're up there, and I'm looking forward to that, as I do, by the way, every year to the congressional shoot.

I have an A rating from the NRA, and I am very proud of that.  I am proud of the fact that I'm a co-sponsor of the legislation to overturn the D.C. gun ban; can't wait until that is up, that the lower court ruling is upheld and that -- because I have a concealed-carry permit, I'll feel a lot safer, by the way, when I'm here to carry in Washington, D.C.

I am a co-sponsor of the legislation that is designed to make sure that in a post-Katrina situation, the government cannot take away guns from law-abiding citizens in the time of a crisis.  And of course I've always been a supporter of legislation that's designed to stop liberals from using the courts to try to bankrupt gun manufacturers through frivolous lawsuits.

You know, there's another issue, though, that we have to also talk about, and that's the issue of illegal immigration.  And I've got a lot of people now who are supporting this endeavor that we started years ago.  More and more candidates are coming on board, and I'm glad to see it.  But still, in all, they're reluctant to talk about what they would do with the 12 (million people) to 20 million people who are here in this country illegally.

First of all, you've got to say that you will not give any of them amnesty, and I will never give any amnesty to anybody who is here illegally.  It's a slap in the face, first of all, to everybody who's come the right way.

Secondly, it only encourages more and more people to come the wrong way.  You have to also be willing to say with me that if you do not go home voluntarily, you will be deported, because that's the law. And a lot of my colleagues run away from me on this issue, but you know what?  They're not running away from the American people.  The people want this done.

And I want this done, and I think most of you do, too.

It is the rule of law that we're talking about upholding here. We also have to go after sanctuary cities.  These are incredible things that are happening all over our country; in fact, sanctuary states now developing, believe it or not, where we are telling people that -- we are telling the police in these cities and states that they cannot cooperate with ICE, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. When they arrest somebody who is here illegally and has before that time actually also committed some other crime -- some crime violent in nature, many of these -- they arrest them, they find out that they have done this, they find out they're here illegally, but they can't report them to ICE because they're sanctuary cities.

I'm telling you that mayors of these cities, city council people that are doing these things, we should go after them because they are actually violating the law themselves.  There's a law called aiding and abetting that they're violating.  There's a law called encouragement they're violating.  We cannot allow a patchwork quilt of immigration laws to develop all over this country.

We have to talk about this issue.  It is important from a wide variety of views.  But I'll tell you this; it really will mean whether or not we can keep this country.  And so all of our rights, certainly the Second Amendment rights and all the rest, are dependent on whether or not we keep the United States of America intact, whether our sovereignty stays or whether or not we just become a place where a lot of people reside who call themselves residents of the North American continent and not citizens of the United States of America.

These are some of the big issues that are connected with this whole concept of immigration.  It's why I talk about it as much as I do.  I hope that you will support me in this effort.  It's a huge undertaking, very controversial.  But you guys, you're not afraid of controversial issues.  Neither am I.  Let's take these on together.

Thank you very much for the time you've allowed me to share with you.  And also, please remember to go to our website, teamtancredo.org, sign up, send us money, do everything you can that you feel comfortable in doing to help us in this endeavor.

Thank you very much.