Tancredo is at it again.

[madamesilverspurs]

Sigh. This from today's newspaper. For a taste of freeperville, go to www.greeleytribune.com and read the comments posted to the article.



Tancredo invites Pelosi to 'Unity March’ after her immigration comments


By Chris Casey

Although he has no ties to the event, former Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo has invited U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to visit Greeley for a “Unity March” being organized by immigrants’ rights groups.

Tancredo, a critic of illegal immigration who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination, said he issued the statement — through his Lakewood-based foundation — in response to comments Pelosi, a San Francisco Democrat, recently made to an audience in her home city. The group at a church included legal and illegal immigrants, according to news reports.

“She was telling them that breaking into the country made them heroes, patriots, and any attempt to try to enforce the law was anti-American,” Tancredo said in a phone interview Tuesday.

Video clips of the Pelosi’s appearance at the church are circulating on YouTube. In the clip, the House speaker took issue with some enforcement actions against illegal immigrants. “Who in this country would not want to change a policy of kicking in doors in the middle of the night and sending a parent away from their families?” she said. “… I think it’s un-American.”

Pelosi praised the audience as “very, very patriotic” for gathering on a Saturday night.

Nadeam Elshami, a spokesman for Pelosi, told The Tribune that the speaker responded to a question about her remarks at last Thursday’s weekly media briefing. “What I said was separating parents from their children, ICE raids that separate parents from their children in the middle of the night, are un-American,” she said. “And I stand by that.”

Elshami said he hadn’t seen an invitation from Tancredo and had no knowledge about the Greeley event. He added he was surprised Tancredo issued an invitation to an event for which he had no involvement.

“I think he’s trying to make a political point based on a misreading of (Pelosi’s) comments,” Elshami said.

Tancredo issued the invitation as chairman of the Rocky Mountain Foundation, a conservative nonprofit he recently founded. He said “true” immigration reform — not “something designed to open the border and to increase the number of Democratic voters” — will be a key area of the foundation’s research.

Tancredo said he heard that members of the Colorado Congressional delegation — Reps. Betsy Markey, Jared Polis and John Salazar — had been invited to the march in Greeley.

“I can’t believe they wouldn’t want (Pelosi) there,” he said.

The May 2 march, expected to draw a couple thousand, is being organized by the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition and Al Frente de Lucha.

In his statement, Tancredo said, “I urge Speaker Pelosi to bring her message to a city that has actually had an immigration raid, not just to her backyard playground, in San Francisco. … What better place than Greeley and what better time than an economic recession for Pelosi to tell American workers that their jobs really belong to illegal aliens.”

Tancredo told The Tribune he would attend the march if Pelosi showed up. He said “it would be a wonderful time,” providing an opportunity for debate about immigration.

Alonzo Barron, an organizer of the march, said the event is focused on bringing together community groups who support unity and immigrant rights. It’s been mentioned to the state’s Congressional delegation, he said, but no personal invitations have gone out.

He said the march is intended to be peaceful.

“He’s more than invited to come just like anybody else is,” Barron said of Tancredo. “… We’re not there to debate the issue of immigration. We’re there to march with people who agree with our principles of unity.”


About the March
The Unity March being organized by the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition and Al Frente de Lucha will take place at 1 p.m. May 2 in Greeley. The march will begin in Island Grove Regional Park, 14th Avenue and A Street in Greeley, go to the Weld County Courthouse, 9th Avenue and 9th Street in Greeley, then return to Island Grove.