Former Colorado Republican congressman Tom Tancredo is known as a far-right ideologue when it comes to immigration, with fellow Republican Dick Armey lamenting that Tancredo is “alienating” Latinos from the GOP. In 2006, Armey referred to Tancredo as the “cheerleader of jerkiness in the immigration debate.” Tancredo has even joked that he would like to “shut off all immigration.” While Tancredo is, not surprisingly, saying that he supports Arizona going after the issue of undocumented immigration, what’s telling is that even he is worried the law might go too far — showing just how radical the measure really is:
Tancredo applauds the law in that Arizona took control of enforcing laws the federal government hasn’t enforced.
But he questions how police can stop people for any reason. “I do not want people here, there in Arizona, pulled over because you look like [you] should be pulled over,” says Tancredo.
He suspects police in Arizona will only pull people over for breaking the law. But they could already do this before the new law.
Tancredo added that Arizona’s law is what happens when the federal government fails to act. “States eventually get to the point where if things get bad enough, they’ll take matters into their own hands,” he said. “They’ve taken what we can call an extreme measure.”