Tancredo presses White House on control of border

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The chairman of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus yesterday questioned the commitment of the nation's border czar to track down and deport the 8 million to 12 million illegal aliens in the United States, asking whether he had "any real interest" in getting the job done.

Rep. Tom Tancredo, Colorado Republican, said he planned to talk with Department of Homeland Security Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson "in the near future" to find out what the department plans to do to alleviate what the congressman called an "illegal immigration crisis."

Mr. Tancredo's comments came during a Capitol Hill press conference by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), which called for stricter enforcement of visa waivers to combat terrorism, and were in response to an interview last week by Mr. Hutchinson with The Washington Times.

In the interview, Mr. Hutchinson said that it was "not realistic" to think that law-enforcement authorities can arrest or deport the millions of illegal aliens now in the United States, that it was "probably accurate" to say no one was looking for them, and that he did not think the American public had the "will ... to uproot" those aliens.

"I think they have too much compassion to tell our law-enforcement people to go out there and uproot those 8 million here -- some of whom might have been here 8 or 12 years, who got kids here that are American citizens -- and to send them out of the country." said Mr. Hutchinson, who heads border and transportation security.

Mr. Tancredo said Mr. Hutchinson said, in a message left with a staff aide, that he had been "misrepresented" in The Times article, and the three-term congressman said he was "anxious to discuss" the matter with Mr. Hutchinson.

"If the statements attributed to him are accurate, then this administration has got some major problems," he said.

Neither Mr. Hutchinson nor his representatives have made any claims of misrepresentation to The Times concerning the luncheon interview, which was attended by editors and reporters and was recorded with Mr. Hutchinson's agreement. A copy of the tape was sent to Mr. Hutchinson's spokesman, Dennis Murphy, on Monday at his request.

Mr. Murphy did not return calls yesterday for further comment or elaboration.

At the press conference, Mr. Tancredo; Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, California Republican; and FAIR President Dan Stein criticized the nation's immigration-enforcement efforts, saying thousands of illegal aliens were crossing into the United States daily.