Tom Tancredo

Mr. TANCREDO

Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Speaker, let me get this straight: The Bush administration won't let the democratically elected President of Taiwan, a staunch aly and longtime friend of the United States, so much as stop to fill his airplane with gas in Alaska. Yet they didn't hesitate to issue a visa to Muhammad Khatami, the former President of Iran--a country the U.S. has classified as a state sponsor of terrorism for nearly the last 30 years. What can we expect next from the Rocket Scientists at State Department Mr. Speaker? Fidel Castro throwing out the first pitch at the next Yankee game? Kim Jong I spending the weekend at Disneyland? Sudanese President Omar AI-Bashir giving a guest lecture on human rights at Cal-Berkley? Hugo Chavez playing a round of golf at Army Navy? As our old friend used to say Mr. Speaker--Beam Me Up.

Mr. TANCREDO

Mr. TANCREDO. I thank the gentleman, and I appreciate his efforts on behalf of the American people. I appreciate especially his efforts on behalf of those of us, well, in fact, the American people who are demanding that something be done here in the Congress of the United States to deal with the fact that people are coming into this country by the hundreds of thousands, in fact, by the millions. And they are coming in without our permission, and they are coming in without our knowledge, and they are essentially destroying the concept of the rule of law which is, of course, one of the building blocks of this great Nation. And it is right that they should look to the Congress of the United States for some sort of action. And it is only because so much pressure has been placed on this body and on the Senate that we are seeing the kinds of bills coming forward that are ostensibly designed to deal with it. I believe that the House bill we passed last December was a good step in the direction of dealing with illegal immigration. It was an enforcement-only bill. It did not provide amnesty to anyone who is presently here illegally. And that is the definition. By the way, if you say to someone, let's get this straight, because this has really been the bain of our contest between the House and the Senate, in terms of what do we mean by ``amnesty''? The President has said and many Members of the Senate have said that their bill and that their idea is not amnesty because it does not provide automatic citizenship to people who are here illegally. And you have to ask yourself, as we ask them all the time, What law dictionary did you ever read that had that definition of ``amnesty''? Amnesty is, of course, when you do not provide the penalty that is prescribed by the law that has been violated. That is amnesty. So if you have come into this country illegally, there is a law that you have violated. What is the penalty? It is, under the law today, that you be deported. Now, when you say to people that we are going to disregard that; that you can, in fact, be here illegally; that we will ignore that entirely, that now you may have to pay a fine or may have to do a couple of other little things; and, therefore, what I am saying is not amnesty, that is wrong, and it should not be allowed to go without being called because, frankly, they are trying to confuse the American people. And they want to go out and tout some sort of bill that will be, ``enforcement only,'' but it will have this component: It will have a guest worker/ amnesty component. Every single one of the bills over there has that. Some of the bills that have been introduced over here have that particular component. So it is our duty, and my colleague has done a great job on this, to identify the problems and pointing out when people over on our side, even, try to introduce legislation and, again, cloud the issue of amnesty, that we have got to be clear with the American people. This is far too important, and we cannot allow ourselves the great latitude that is designed in most of these bills to go out there and say we have dealt with immigration, because we have not. You can see the fact that it is reaching a boiling point in America, and one way of determining that is to see what is happening in the States. And it is amazing because States now are taking on this issue because the Congress will not. States like Georgia and Alabama and Florida, and now we can add to the list Colorado, which recently passed a bill that came out of a special session called by the Governor. Now, this is amazing in and of itself, a special session of a State legislature. They had gone out of session. The Governor called them back and said, You have got to deal with something here. And what was that something? Was it the prison system? No. It was illegal immigration, because, of course, the State of Colorado, like every State, is being impacted by this problem and impacted negatively. The costs are enormous. And so they were called into special session, and Colorado did pass a bill. By the way, a Democrat legislature that could not figure out a way to not pass it. I mean, they tried everything imaginable to avoid it, and finally they had to come to the point where they did pass legislation that will restrict social service benefits to people who are presently legally in the State of Colorado. And this is an amazing thing. Like I say, Georgia has passed, I think, perhaps the best series of laws on this issue. The State of Alabama has contracted with the Federal Government in a memorandum of understanding saying that the State police will identify to ICE, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, officials everyone they come in contact with who is an illegal immigrant and those people will in turn be taken away by ICE. That is an agreement they have come up with. Florida is following in their footsteps. This is happening throughout the United States, and I am happy to see it. But it only points out that there has been a dereliction of duty here at the Federal level because clearly this is one of the constitutional areas that is clearly defined as Federal. I mean, it is our role. It is our responsibility. It falls on our shoulders. Sixteen sheriffs along the border in Texas formed together an alliance to try to defend their border. I mean, what does that tell us here? They look to us for support. And one of the things they were asking for, by the way, was just financial aid so they could buy equipment and arms to be as well armed as the people they were facing on the other side of the border. It is about time that we do something, but that something has to be substantive. It cannot be eyewash. And it is going to be our duty, yours and mine and others who care about this issue, to bring to the attention of the American public exactly what is going on here, the nature of the bills that are being introduced. We have to be very specific, and we cannot let people cloud the issue. So I just again want to thank my colleague from Iowa for the yeoman's work he has been doing on this and the fact that he has done exactly what I have said. He has identified bills that have been introduced, even by our own colleagues over here, specifically Mr. Pence, and explained why those bills are, in fact, also amnesty. I mean, that bill is, in fact, amnesty, and others like it have an amnesty provision to it that people can get citizenship if they are here illegally under those bills. Even though there are all these protestations to the contrary, the fact is that that is still what is being pushed. The other side will do anything to get a guest worker/amnesty plan, including the suggestion that it will all be done under a guise of enforcement first. We have to be very careful. And I just, again, want to thank my colleague for his efforts on behalf of the people of this country on especially this issue.

Mr. TANCREDO

Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to congratulate Mr. Brian Christensen of Littleton, CO, on his victory in the NCAA Archery Recurve finals. Mr. Christensen is a one-man team from Colorado State University, he is self-coached and his achievements are noteworthy. He has further ambitions to compete in the 2008 Summer Olympics. He has also been named Colorado Archer of the Year. Previously he has won the World Archery Festival in 2002 and 2003. Archery requires intense concentration and therefore he has used his discipline in the academic realm as well; currently he is using this in his goal of graduating with a degree in Sports Medicine. Mr. Speaker, it is my distinct pleasure to honor Mr. Christensen and his achievements here today, and wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

Mr. TANCREDO

Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate a young man from Greenwood Village, Colorado, Mr. Joshua Marc Jacobson, for earning a Congressional Award Gold Medal. The Congressional Award program challenges talented young men and women to be active in their communities, develop leadership skills, and challenge themselves physically and to go on expeditions domestically or internationally. Josh completed over 400 hours of community service with the most rewarding project being a food drive that he organized as the chapter president of Future Business Leaders of America. His personal development goals were achieved through part-time work with local businesses. Here he was able to develop skills in leadership that he will be taking with him as an intern for a Congressional Campaign this summer. Josh completed his physical fitness requirements by playing varsity tennis in high school, after years of hard work to achieve his goal. Josh's commitment to his community and' his desire to become a future leader is significant as he continues to grow this summer and in the years ahead.

Mr. TANCREDO

Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Speaker, hundreds of students compete in the Congressional Art Competition in my district. I would like to take this time to honor Amanda Trumpeter of Chatfield High School. Her winning artwork will be on display with hundreds of her peers' artwork from around the country. Ms. Trumpeter is outstanding student in both arts and academics. She has been accepted into the Advanced Placement teacher cadet program as well as being on Honor Roll. Ms. Trumpeter has also served as the President of the National Art Honor Society. Ms. Trumpeter has is a proud recipient of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design summer expressions pre-college scholarship for her artistic abilities. Mr. Speaker, it is my distinct pleasure to honor Ms. Trumpeter and her achievements here today, and wish her all the best in her future endeavors.

Mr. TANCREDO

Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. This bipartisan amendment would prevent the State Department from expending any funds to enforce several arbitrary and archaic ``guidelines'' that inhibit or altogether prevent United States officials from communicating with their counterparts in Taiwan. These restrictions range from just silly to downright absurd. These so-called guidelines, among other things, do not permit meetings with Taiwanese diplomats or elected officials in Department of State buildings, the White House, or the Old Executive Office Building. They prevent executive branch personnel from the foreign affairs agencies and those above the rank of GS-14 from attending Taiwan's annual holiday reception in Washington. They prevent executive branch personnel from attending meetings at Twin Oaks, which is the former residence of Taiwan's ambassador here in Washington. They prevent travel to Taiwan by any officials above a certain rank from the Defense Department and the State Department. They explicitly prohibit executive branch personnel from corresponding directly with Taiwanese officials. Instead, the guidelines mandate that communications be sent through a third party. The guidelines even stipulate that ``indirect'' communications not be printed on official letterhead, and they prohibit U.S. personnel from using the official title of the Taiwanese official to whom the letter is being sent. Executive branch officials are even directed ``not to refer to Taiwan's democratically elected government as a `government.''' Instead, they are directed to use the strange term ``Taiwan authorities.'' Mr. Chairman, these guidelines needlessly complicate our ability to effectively communicate with our friends in Taiwan. As a result, Taipei and Washington often find themselves talking past each other through the international media instead of communicating face-to-face. It makes absolutely no sense and helps no one. Mr. Chairman, these self-imposed guidelines raise serious questions about who is really in charge and calling the shots when it comes to the U.S. policy in Taiwan. Is it the Congress or is it the Communist governments in Beijing? I ask for an ``aye'' vote on the amendment. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Chairman, I do not see Mr. Andrews, who was coauthor. Therefore, I will simply say that I would hope that we invalidate these nonsensical guidelines, allow our government to communicate directly with Taiwan's democratically elected government the same way we communicate with other friendly governments. I ask for an ``aye'' vote.

Mr. TANCREDO. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. TANCREDO

Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank the chairman of the committee, who, I understand, is going to accept this amendment. I want to thank the author of the amendment. This has come up time and time again in front of this House. We have cities all over this country that are ignoring the law. It is part of the law today that says you cannot have sanctuary cities, and yet cities are doing it, and they are snubbing their noses at the Federal law. And as a result of it, crimes are being committed. People have been killed as a result of the fact that cities provide sanctuary for people who are here illegally, have come in contact with the police, and the police have refused to make that known to the ICE agency. As a result of that kind of policy, people in this country have died. I, again, want to thank the author of the amendment and the committee for accepting this amendment.

Mr. TANCREDO

Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate a young man from Greenwood Village, Colorado, Mr. Joshua Marc Jacobson. Joshua recently earned a Congressional Award Gold Medal. The Congressional Award program challenges talented young men and women to be active in their communities, develop leadership skills, and challenge themselves physically and to go on expeditions domestically or internationally. Josh completed over 400 hours of community service with the most rewarding project being a food drive that he organized as the chapter president of Future Business Leaders of America. His personal development goals were achieved through part-time work with local businesses. There he was able to develop skills in leadership that he will be taking with him as an intern for a U.S. Congressional Campaign this summer. Josh completed his physical fitness requirements by playing varsity tennis in high school, after years of hard work to achieve his goal. Josh also took a six week long trip to Israel and Poland to complete his expedition requirements. Josh should be commended for his commitment to community and his desire to become a future leader. I wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

Mr. TANCREDO

Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate Grant Fischer of Douglas County High School and Matthew Van Horn of Chatfield High School on their appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. I would also like to take this time to congratulate Christine Jaszlics of Lakewood High School and Jeffrey Hathcote of Grandview High School on their appointment to the United States Merchant Marine Academy, as well as Madison Stumpp and Richard Shreffler, both of Eaglecrest High School, on achieving appointments to the United States Naval Academy. Finally, I would also like to extend my hearty congratulations to Matthew Bezzant of Columbine High School, Kyle Black of Thunder Ridge High School, Meghan Booze of Columbine High School, Daniel Hann of Dakota Ridge High School, Brock Logan of Arapahoe High school, Millie Mays of Douglas County High School, Trenton West of Grandview High School and Kelsey Yip of Dakota Ridge High School on their appointments to the United States Air Force Academy. These young men and women have exhibited tremendous commitment and dedication in making it through the rigorous nomination process and I wish them all the best in their future endeavors as they embark on their careers with the United States Military. They have excelled both in and out of the classroom, and I have no doubt they will represent Colorado with distinction at these prestigious academies.

Mr. TANCREDO

Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Chairman, my amendment would prevent the recent extensions of temporary protective status designation for Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Mr. Chairman, I have strong concerns regarding a pattern of abuse of the Temporary Protective Status Program. Congress has granted formerly the Attorney General and now the Secretary of Homeland Security the authority to grant temporary refugee to aliens, usually illegal aliens, from particular countries under temporary protected status. If there is an ongoing armed conflict in the country and the return of nationals would pose a threat to their security or if there has been a natural disaster in the country resulting in a substantial but temporary disruption of living conditions, TPS status can be granted. It has become all too apparent that the administration is utilizing TPS as a de facto amnesty for illegal aliens from certain Central American countries. For instance, TPS status was granted to Honduran and Nicaraguan nationals at the end of 1998 following Hurricane Mitch. The administration recently extended TPS for the sixth time. Temporary dislocations caused by Hurricane Mitch have long since ended. TPS status for Salvadoran nationals was granted early in 2001 as a result of earthquakes hitting the region. The administration has extended TPS now four times, again, long after any temporary dislocations caused by earthquakes have ended. These extensions cover approximately 225,000 Salvadorians, 75,000 Hondurans and 4,000 Nicaraguans. Last December, several Members including Chairman Sensenbrenner urged the administration to reject Guatemala's request for yet another extension of TPS for its nationals present in the United States. The administration ignored this reasonable request. To be clear, I am not opposed to having the ability to grant TPS, but I hope you will support my amendment to defund these specific abuses of this important designation tool, which is meant to serve important legitimate temporary needs, not act as a rolling amnesty. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Chairman, if we do nothing, these extensions of TPS designations will expire September 9, 2007 for El Salvador, Honduras, July 5, and Nicaragua at the same time. It is interesting to note that the countries of El Salvador and Nicaragua are presently advertising on their Web sites for tourism, encouraging people to come to the countries, of course, because there is nothing wrong, there are no dislocations, and there is no reason for the continued TPS status. Many members of MS-13, which we all know to be a very violent gang, have benefited from the Salvadorian TPS. Unfortunately, under current law, alien gang members who have been granted TPS status generally cannot be returned to their native countries without having first been convicted of a felony or other specific criminal offenses. It is not enough just to be affiliated with a federally identified gang. It makes absolutely no sense to allow gang members, many of whom are here illegally, to be free from deportation until they have committed another crime. Gang members who are shielded from deportation by TPS are a significant problem. The exact number of gang members protected by TPS is unknown. But in an April 13, 2005, Immigration Subcommittee hearing, the Department of Homeland Security stated that of the 5,000 gang members detained under Operation Community Shield, approximately 350 had been granted TPS. That means that, because of TPS, we now know there are 350 gang members who will be back on our streets terrorizing our communities and neighborhoods. We do not know, however, how many gang members who are protected by TPS we would find if we examined the 800,000 gang members the Department of Justice suggests are currently within our borders, instead of only the 5,000 detained under Operation Community Shield. As I say, it can be a good program. It can be a good designation. If we use it correctly, it is beneficial. It is interesting also to note that countries like Pakistan that suffered enormous damage, countries all over Southeast Asia that were swamped by the tsunami, they were not granted TPS. Nobody here was granted TPS for those conditions. It is apparent that this is a political problem that should be settled here. And so I would ask for support of my amendment.

Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. TANCREDO

Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Chairman, reclaiming my time. I hope we can work together on this issue. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw the amendment.

Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Chairman, this amendment will strike language added during the committee markup that prevents the U.S. Geological Survey from consolidating its older and obsolete mapping centers into a single consolidated national geospatial technical operations center. According to the agency, the consolidation is critical to the USGS's ability to lead the Nation in facilitating and leveraging geospatial information services. The centers USGS is attempting to consolidate were established many years ago to support a large field-based workforce spread out across the country when map production involved exhaustive field survey and was more manually intensive. That was fine back then, but it makes no sense now. USGS, by their own admission, no longer manually collects and plots this kind of information, nor do they print a large volume of maps. Advanced technologies like remote sensing, we have all seen Google Earth, along with consumer demand for easy access to digital products have the USGS role. The language in my amendment would strike needlessly imposing a 20th century paradigm on an agency that is desperately trying to make its way into the 21st century. This consolidation is not only saving taxpayers money, but it will create a more effective, efficient and modern USGS that is better prepared to work with partners in the State, local and private sectors. In addition, it will make the agency more user friendly, a better place to respond to the needs of the most important customers, the U.S. taxpayer. This consolidation plan announced in September of last year has been rigorously reviewed twice, once by an internal USGS review team and again by the Interior Department Inspector General. Both found the process leading to the decision to consolidate the facilities was open, fair and adequate. The mission of the USGS is to serve the Nation by providing reliable, scientific information to describe and understand the Earth, minimize loss of property from natural disasters, manage water, biological energy and mineral resources and enhance and protect the quality of life. Its mission is not to maintain antiquated facilities or outmoded paradigms to serve the parochial interests of the State or the Nation. Mr. Chairman, I do intend to withdraw this amendment, but I first would yield to my colleague from Colorado.

Mr. TANCREDO. I yield to the gentleman from Colorado.

Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word. I would like to engage in a colloquy with the chairman. Mr. Chairman, I had intended to offer an amendment that would prevent the use of funds to delay action on a petition to remove the so-called Preble's Jumping Mouse from the Endangered Species List. I say so-called, because in December of 2003, a scientific study conducted by biologists and the Chair of the Denver Museum of National History's zoology department, concluded that the Preble's Mouse is, in fact, not really a valid subspecies at all. Ms. Ramey's findings contradicted a 1950 study based on just three museum specimens. That was the basis of the original ``threatened'' designation. Ironically, the Arizona professor who conducted the study a half century ago himself now agrees that Ramey's research invalidates his findings. In early 2005, in the wake of Ramey's study, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined the petition to delist the mouse was warranted, and the agency began the delisting process. Better late than never, although that belated policy shift is not much of a consolation to those who have coughed up an estimate $8 to $17 each year in compliance costs. Mr. Chairman, I believe that Dr. Ramey's work and the courage of former Interior Secretary Gail Norton to take action on it were important steps in our effort to base conservation decisions on science instead of politics or emotion. Unfortunately, however, progress is stalled. In January of this year, the bureaucracy questioned the Ramey study, and in February the agency pushed back a decision on the delisting petition for another 6 months. Mr. Chairman, I feel the agency is falling back into the all too familiar analysis paralysis that has become the hallmark of the Federal resources agency. Quick action on this petition is extremely important to the people of my congressional district. I hope we can work together to ensure the agency's bureaucrats do not successfully subject this delisting petition to death by delay.

Mr. TANCREDO. I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina.

Mr. TANCREDO. I appreciate the chairman's attention to this issue. It is an extremely critical one in my area.

Mr. TANCREDO

Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor two great Americans, Norman and Marlyn Scheffel of Parker, Colorado. Norman and Marlyn are long-time champions of public involvement in the democratic process. Norman and Marlyn have attended precinct caucuses ever since they moved to Parker, in 1973. Norman currently serves as a district captain overseeing five precincts. The Scheffel's have always been active in the community. Marlyn has volunteered with Bible studies and has run programs to watch children so that mothers could have a day off. The Scheffel's decades of dedication to grassroots politics is so legendary that they were the focus of a recent news story in the Rocky Mountain News. Americans should look at Norman and Marlyn as examples of how everyday Americans should be engaged in the political process. I thank them for their commitment to America and wish them all the best in the future.

Mr. TANCREDO

Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Speaker, I want to begin by thanking Chairman Hyde, Ranking Member Lantos, Africa Subcommittee Chairman Smith and my good friend and long time collaborator on Sudan related legislation and issues, Donald Payne of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, we all know the numbers: the genocide in Darfur has claimed 400,000 lives and displaced over 2.5 million people. More than 100 people continue to die each day; 5,000 die every month. Led and supported by their puppet masters in Khartoum, the Janjaweed militia have raped, pillaged, killed and according to this Congress, have committed acts of genocide against Darfur's innocent inhabitants. Mr. Speaker, despite the efforts of this Congress and the numerous governmental and non-governmental organizations who are active on the ground in Darfur, the situation continues to deteriorate: atrocity crimes are continuing and people are still dying in large numbers from malnutrition and disease. The humanitarian situation remains catastrophic, due to layers of aid obstruction, the lack of an overall humanitarian strategic plan, and the weakened state of displaced Sudanese. Refugees and internally displaced civilians (IDPs), a disproportionate number of them women, are in terribly weakened states, subject to sexual abuse and without adequate shelter. The numbers of at-risk civilians continue to increase. And as need far outstrips the ability of agencies to deliver aid, localized famine is feared. To be perfectly frank, I find it reprehensible, Mr. Speaker; simply reprehensible that the international community has failed to act on the promises made after the Holocaust that never again would genocide occur on this planet. While I stand here today as a Member of Congress and applaud my colleagues for their efforts, I also stand here outraged that the United Nations and NATO have allowed despicable war criminals in Khartoum, the same criminals that once provided safe harbor to Osama Bin Laden and as of Monday, have denied a senior U.N. official from entering Darfur, to dictate the method by which the international community may respond to acts of genocide. Despite my sadness Mr. Speaker, despite my outrage, I come to the floor today slightly uplifted over the fact that later today this body will vote on and hopefully pass H.R. 3127, the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act. As I have stated repeatedly during the various markups of this legislation, the final version of this bill is certainly not what I had hoped for; despite the best efforts of my staff and others, there is no authorization of force language; the sanctions could have been stronger; there was no mention of a no fly zone; the list goes on. Despite these shortcomings, Chairman Hyde's legislation provides the President with the necessary authorization authority to help alleviate the suffering of the people of Darfur; It denies entry to U.S. ports to certain cargo ships if the Government of Sudan fails to take specified peace measures in Darfur; prohibits, with waiver authority, U.S. assistance to a country that violates U.N. Security Council Resolutions that prohibit military sales to Sudan; and while the bill provides the President with the authority to direct our Ambassadors to NATO and the U.N. to take various action to stop the genocide in Darfur; and while those Ambassadors have acted accordingly; as I mentioned earlier, both of those organizations have been sluggish and as of now ineffective in taking proactive action to prevent further atrocities. Mr. Speaker, no matter how stringent this piece of legislation could have been, it would not have ended the killing, the rape and the pillaging that continues to occur in Darfur. While the President has taken some action to alleviate the suffering of innocent Darfurians, some is simply not enough when a genocide is occurring on our watch. As I conclude, it is my hope that this piece of legislation sends a signal to Khartoum that this Congress will not stand by idly while the innocent are slaughtered; in addition, I hope the President will increase his pressure on the international community to take decisive action to end the genocide and bring those responsible to justice.