Tancredo hands off immigration role

M.E. Sprengelmeyer, Rocky Mountain News

Published February 7, 2007 at midnight

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WASHINGTON — Rep. Tom Tancredo has given up control over the immigration-reform caucus that made him famous.

Starting this week, Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Calif., will take over as chairman of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus, which Tancredo has led since his first congressional term in 1999.

"Tom is no longer the sole voice on the immigration reform front, and he wanted to get some new blood involved with the issue," Tancredo spokesman Carlos Espinosa said this morning.

Espinosa said it was similar to the way Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, encouraged Tancredo to take a higher-profile role on the immigration issue eight years ago.

Although Tancredo recently formed an exploratory committee to raise money for a possible run for president in 2008, "He plans to stay very active with the caucus and with the issue," Espinosa said.

The caucus started with just 16 members, but its ranks grew to just over 100 by the end of 2005, when Congress was in the middle of an emotional fight over border security and various proposed immigration reforms.

Tancredo used the caucus to rally hard-line opposition to a White House-backed guest worker plan, and the group played a major role in shaping House of Representatives legislation that focused almost exclusively on border control and tougher enforcement against illegal immigrants and those who hire them.

The bill eventually died after the Senate produced a more comprehensive immigration reform package and members of Tancredo's caucus and other Republicans refused to negotiate on a guest-worker plan and citizenship provisions they consider "amnesty" for people in the country illegally.

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