Tuning In to Anger on Immigration

Republican Ed Clousing, of Littleton, a suburb at the foot of the Rockies, said: "I am so mad at our government. And I know Tom Tancredo is mad, too. Because there's nobody up there trying to protect what's right about our country."

Tancredo's congressional district includes suburb after suburb, an expanse of new homes, schools, shopping malls and golf courses spreading across the high plains south and west of Denver. The district is about 88 percent white, and the residents are prosperous, with a median income ($74,000) almost twice the national average. The share of Hispanic residents, 6 percent, is the lowest of any Colorado district.

Tancredo, a self-described religious right Republican, grew up on the north side of Denver, taught in junior high school, and was elected to the state House in 1976 at the age of 30. He was part of a group called "the crazies," who advocated the elimination of the sales tax on food and utilities, and was a critic of public education.

But immigration has always been his chief preoccupation, and he made a name for himself after winning election to Congress. Tancredo strongly opposes any programs to accommodate illegal workers already living in the country and, after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, he supported the most stringent possible border enforcements.

Tancredo helped to shape a House bill, approved in December, that would impose stiff penalties on employers who hire illegal workers and would require businesses to eventually run the names of every employee through a national database to confirm their legality. The bill would end the "catch and release" policy for immigrants other than Mexicans who are caught sneaking into the country. Five double-layer border fences would be built in California and Arizona, stretching 698 miles at a total cost of more than $2.2 billion.

The House proposal has sparked huge protests in Phoenix, Detroit, Los Angeles and elsewhere. The Senate is now debating legislation that would take a more permissive and forgiving approach, by creating a guest-worker program and issuing more visas for professionals.

Tancredo is particularly riled at the business community, which he says has become "addicted to cheap labor." Employers are a driving force behind the guest-worker program and other Senate provisions that amount to "nearly universal amnesty" for the 12 million people currently living in the United States illegally, Tancredo says. He routinely chides Bush, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and other GOP colleagues for bowing to corporate pressure, despite the potential social problems and security threats.

Polls indicate that about 60 percent of Americans oppose guest-worker programs and three-quarters of Americans believe the government is doing too little to secure the nation's borders.

Democrats acknowledge concerns about the issue, but it is Republicans who are in the most difficult spot. One lawmaker trying to juggle law-and-order voters with business pressures is Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), who is fighting for reelection in November. His state is the birthplace of the Minutemen, a citizens' border patrol founded after Sept. 11. It was also the site of one of the biggest rallies against the House bill, held last week in Phoenix.

To keep the heat on Kyl, Tancredo issued a news release titled "Tancredo to Kyl: Just Say No to Amnesty," urging the senator to vote against the guest-worker proposal in committee, which Kyl did. But the Arizona Republican refused to comment about Tancredo's influence over the immigration debate. "I don't want to talk about it," he grumbled while dashing for an elevator.