Tancredo: Not even Miamians believe they are American

Gov. Jeb Bush, R-Fla.

Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., has told Florida Gov. Jeb Bush that while "tolerance of cultural diversity … is admirable up to a point," it quickly becomes a problem when it is worshipped to the "detriment of assimilation."

Tancredo's letter to Bush is the latest round in a war of words that was launched between the Littleton, Colo., congressman and President George W. Bush's brother when Tancredo, in an interview with WND, called Miami a "Third World country."

"Look at what has happened to Miami. It has become a Third World country," Tancredo told WND in a Nov. 19 story as he lamented how the nature of America can be changed by uncontrolled immigration. "You just pick it up and take it and move it someplace. You would never know you're in the United States of America. You would certainly say you're in a Third World country."

The governor then responded with a letter addressed to Tancredo's Washington office that, ''The bottom line is Miami is a wonderful city filled with diversity and heritage that we choose to celebrate, not insult. Miami has been my home for years and I am looking forward to returning there in January.''

Now Tancredo's followup notes a current issue of TIME magazine that describes Miami as a "corrupt, exorbitant mess" where locals are fleeing in droves, the Miami-Dade School District has a 45 percent graduation rate, and there are reports that the city has lost 20,000 residents each year and its growth depends on immigrants, both legal and illegal.

"Florida, like America itself, attracts people from many places, and immigrants always bring diverse cultures, races, and religious beliefs to our shores," Tancredo wrote. "It is precisely because of these diverse origins, cultures and languages that Florida and America depend on a few things to hold us together. One of the most important things that contributes to cohesion and not fragmentation is the English language and the evidence suggests that this is something that fewer and fewer Miamians share."

He also said it's apparent fewer and fewer residents of that city even think of themselves as Americans.

"This fact was noted recently by Lisandro Perez who was identified in a TIME magazine article as 'a Cuban-born immigrant and head of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University.' He was quoted as extolling the virtue of Miami as a city where 'there is no pressure to be an American,'" Tancredo wrote.

"I certainly understand and appreciate your need and desire to try and create the illusion of Miami as a multiethnic 'All American' city," he said. "However, it is neither na?ve nor insulting to call attention to a real problem that cannot be easily dismissed through politically correct happy talk."

"Do you not worry that Miami's 'sanctuary city' rules serve as a magnet for illegal aliens and undercut the state's otherwise sound law enforcement policies? Do you worry that a recent random community survey on 'Miami values' found that corruption was listed as the number one 'value' by residents?

"Governor with all due respect, I have simply said something most people -- even in Florida if our calls and e-mails are a measurement of sentiment – believe is true. I have no doubt that people of wealth can still lead a comfortable and pleasant life in Miami, but ask yourself why ordinary middle class citizens are leaving in such high numbers," Tancredo said.

Earlier, Tancredo's fellow member of the U.S. House, Miami Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, said while Tancredo was her friend, he was ''flat out wrong.'' She invited the Colorado lawmaker to travel to Miami and judge for himself.

''I invite my friend, Tom, to visit beautiful Miami, my hometown, and experience firsthand our hospitality,'' Ros-Lehtinen said, according to the Miami Herald. "Come on down, Tom, the water's fine!''

Ros-Lehtinen said Miami is a "world-class city where diversity is celebrated. Here people have the opportunity to meet folks from across the globe and honor different cultures.''

The war of words is now being reported across the nation, appearing not only in the Miami Herald, but the Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News, and the Associated Press among others.

In the original interview with WND, Tancredo also said President Bush believes America should be more of an idea than an actual place, claiming the president sought to merge the U.S. with Mexico and Canada into a North America Union.

Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo.

"People have to understand what we're talking about here. The president of the United States is an internationalist," Tancredo had said. "He is going to do what he can to create a place where the idea of America is just that – it's an idea. It's not an actual place defined by borders. I mean this is where this guy is really going."

Tancredo lashed out at the White House's lack of action in securing U.S. borders, and said efforts to merge the U.S. with both Mexico and Canada is not a fantasy.

"I know this is dramatic – or maybe somebody would say overly dramatic – but I'm telling you, that everything I see leads me to believe that this whole idea of the North American Union, it's not something that just is written about by right-wing fringe kooks. It is something in the head of the president of the United States, the president of Mexico, I think the prime minister of Canada buys into it. ...

"And they would just tell you, 'Well, sure, it's a natural thing. It's part of the great globalization ... of the economy.' They assume it's a natural, evolutionary event that's going to occur here. I hope they're wrong and I'm going to try my best to make sure they're wrong. But I'm telling you the tide is great. The tide is moving in their direction. We have to say that."

Tancredo – a heavyweight champion of the border-security issue, and whose new book on how to solve that vexing problem, titled "In Mortal Danger," became an immediate best seller – just may be elected president, Fox News' Neil Cavuto said recently.

"Illegals coming into America are sure to be front and center in the next presidential election here," Cavuto said on a June broadcast of "Your World with Neil Cavuto," "and Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo certainly knows it. He owns this issue. And straw polls show that, if he were to run for president, he just might well be president."

Read Tom Tancredo's letter to Jeb Bush [PDF file]

Read Jeb Bush's letter to Tom Tancredo [PDF file]

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