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Rep. Tom Tancredo is again taking on President Bush, accusing the White House of trying to hide documents that indicate the President’s comments on guest worker programs were interpretated by illegal immigrants as an invitation to come to the United States.
The documents, obtained by the public interest group Judicial Watch, show that immigrants crossing America’s southern border in the weeks after the president’s Jan. 7, 2004, announcement [on guest worker programs] interpreted his proposal as a general amnesty, said Tancredo, a Republican and chairman of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus….
Get ahead of holiday shopping this year!Gift 12 issues of 5280 magazine for just $14 »After the president announced his policy, the department ordered a survey of apprehended illegal immigrants to determine whether the proposal influenced their decision to cross the border. Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, said survey responses established that Bush’s guest worker program was “broadly interpreted as an amnesty program by illegal immigrants from Mexico” and that the proposal “lured greater numbers of illegal immigrants to the U.S.”…
Tancredo accused the Department of Homeland Security of issuing a “gag order” and then “stonewalling” when Judicial Watch sought information. The events, he said, “suggest that the administration is playing politics with border security data. I hope that this is not the case. It is crucial that the American people know that their government is not letting politics get in the way of national security.”
Tancredo is no friend of the White House, and he often speaks about the time when President Bush’s top advisor, Karl Rove, told him to “never darken the door of the White House again.”