Tancredo: GOP hopefuls sound like me on immigration

Presidential candidate and immigration hawk Rep. Tom Tancredo (Colo.) said Wednesday that his fellow GOP White House hopefuls are increasingly sounding like him on the issue of immigration.

“I’m happy now that almost every one of my colleagues, standing up there on the stage, running for the Republican nomination, is sounding like Tom Tancredo when it comes to illegal immigration,” the lawmaker said.

{mosads}However, he said he wants the tough talk of GOP presidential candidates to be “more than just rhetoric,” and accused former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney of having launched an immigration ad to attack former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

In the ad, Romney rails against so-called sanctuary cities, like New York and Newark, N.J., that “become magnets that encourage illegal immigration and undermine secure borders.”

Using the example of Newark, where an illegal immigrant was involved recently in a high-profile murder case, Tancredo also lashed out at sanctuary cities.

“Hundreds and hundreds of people die in this country, or are robbed, or are raped, every single year by someone who is here illegally and who has come in contact with the police before and should’ve been deported,” Tancredo said on MSNBC.

“We have to begin punishing these cities in some way or it’s going to spread all over this country and we are all going to be in jeopardy as a result of it,” Tancredo added.