Tom Tancredo: “I wish we had a big sign that said: This is the law and this is my amendment. This is the law that is on the books. This…”

“I wish we had a big sign that said: This is the law and this is my amendment. This is the law that is on the books. This is not debatable at this point, or at least it is not part of my amendment. If the gentleman does not like the fact that we have a law on the books saying that the people of the cities and counties should help, or let me put it this way, there is a law that says that they should not actively oppose our attempts to actually enforce immigration law, that is what it is. It does not require anything. It does not require deputization of more people or to get them involved with the actual immigration enforcement. It just says you cannot take an action that prevents the flow of information or the acceptance of information. That is it. That is the law that is on the books. What we are trying to do is assess a penalty. The idea that local law enforcement, they do not want this because somehow people will not come forward, the reality is this, their task is to enforce the law also. They take an oath to do that, just as we do. Here we sit debating as to whether or not we should enforce a law we have already passed. That is the bizarre nature of this debate.”