Tancredo's proposal has been backed by left before

Tancredo proposal been tried by the left before - Examiner

Former Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo's 2010 ballot proposal to require that employers verify the immigration status of new hires has met with the somewhat predictable charges of racism from members of the left wing of the Democratic party. Those of us with longer memories, however, may recall that the Tancredo proposal, or something very much like it, was, in fact, once proposed by, you guessed it, members of the left wing of the Democratic party.

For example, Radio America talk show host Thom Hartmann, whose left-wing pedigree is clearly beyond debate, made the case for the Tancredo proposal years prior. Usually the proposal was offered as an alternative to the confiscation of cars of unlicensed drivers and other measures aimed directly at illegals and their families, which the left viewed as petty and mean-spirited. Worse, according to Hartmann, those measures were seen as half-hearted and doomed to failure, providing political cover for the very businesses that profited from illegal labor. The only justifiable and effective measures, according to Hartmann and others, would be sanctions aimed at the employers of illegals. In particular, members of organized labor, some of which were and are very left-leaning, agreed with Hartmann.

Illegals, they argued, were not only impossible to organize, but the employment of illegals and the failure to take the only truly effective steps to stop it constituted a conspiracy by the corporations to drive the wages of all Americans to Third World levels. What has changed?

Colorado Democratic party chairwoman Pat Waak, charges that the proposal, which would employ the federal E-Verify system, might "jeopardize job recovery." Certainly for unemployed illegals this might be the case. State Representative Edward Casso D-Commerce City claims that the measure "does nothing but inspire a racist agenda," though the proposal would have the same affect on European, Australian or Canadian illegals that it would on Hispanic or Asian illegals.