Tom Tancredo: “There is a basic problem and there is something below even all of that, which we must identify and talk about from time…”

“There is a basic problem and there is something below even all of that, which we must identify and talk about from time to time, and that is the fact that America's population is growing at a rapid rate. That population growth is a result, not just of the birth rate of the people who have lived in the United States for some period of time, it is the result that over 50 percent of that population growth in the last decade is a result of immigration into the United States, both legal and illegal. California is a prime example of the problem. It has an enormous population. It has enormous growth in the population primarily as a result of immigration. The United States Congress has a responsibility. It is to establish immigration standards, immigration quotas. We are the only body that can do that. No State can do it. California cannot determine how many people it will let in. It has to deal with however many people come in, and in dealing with it, it has to build more power plants, whether they like it or not. It has to encourage conservation, and it has to, in fact, tap the natural resources available to it. We will be doing that throughout this Nation as a result of the dramatic increase in population brought about primarily by immigration both legal and illegal. No one likes to talk about this. It is an issue that oftentimes evokes a lot of emotion on both sides of the issue.”