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Thursday, April 17, 2008
Tancredo criticizes Pope on immigration
Rep. Tom Tancredo, a Colorado Republican famous for his fight against illegal immigrants, took offense at the words of Pope Benedict XVI.
The Pope reportedly said this week that the United States must do “everything possible to fight…all forms of violence so that immigrants may lead dignified lives.”
In response, Tancredo said: “I would like to know what part of our lax immigration policy is considered violent. I fail to see how accepting more refugees than any other nation -and providing free health care, education, housing and social service benefits to millions of illegal aliens is in any way ‘violent’ or ‘degrading.’”
Tancredo also suggested in a press release that the Pope was making the comments in part to recruit more immigrants into the Catholic church. I suspect the Pope’s immigration comments may have less to do with spreading the gospel than they do about recruiting new members of the church,” said Tancredo. “This isn’t preaching it is ‘faith-based’ marketing.”