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'INTERNAL USE ONLY'

That alleged cover-up came in the form of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection Service (CBPS) memorandum entitled "Public Affairs Guidance, White House Approved Talking Points, Temporary Worker Program." The memo was marked in large, bold type, in all capital letters, "INTERNAL USE ONLY," and contained several admonitions to CBPS press officers:

"Do not talk about amnesty, increase in apprehensions or give comparisons of past immigration," and "Do not provide statistics on apprehension spikes or past amnesty data."

The CBPS declined to produce a report on the survey, or to release its findings until compelled to do so by the Judicial Watch lawsuit. Tancredo said he was frustrated but not surprised by the attempt to suppress the information.

"I am very concerned about the fact that this seems to be a pattern. This is not a unique event," Tancredo said. "We have, in the past, asked for a lot of documents. My office has more than once been stonewalled by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and their predecessor agencies."

Tancredo has written Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, requesting an explanation.

"The timing of the survey's start and early dismissal, and the DHS gag order and stonewalling of Judicial Watch's request suggest that the administration is playing politics with border security data," Tancredo wrote. "I hope that this is not the case."

Tancredo stressed that he is not opposed to the concept of a guest worker program, as long as it is designed to discourage illegal immigration.

"We keep saying that the way to do this is to give them amnesty, create a 'guest worker program,'" Tancredo noted. "You can have a guest worker program. I have proposed a guest worker program. [But] it has nothing to do with amnesty, and it can't be implemented until you've secured your borders and until you have gone after employers and tried to stop the demand side," he said.

Verifying employment eligibility

As Cybercast News Service previously reported, Tancredo is a cosponsor of the Illegal Immigration Enforcement and Social Security Protection Act (H.R. 98), which would make it more difficult for employers to accept fraudulent documentation from illegal aliens seeking work.

"We can secure the border. We just choose not to. It can be done with the application of the military, if we need to," Tancredo said. "We could stop illegal immigration or reduce it dramatically on our borders. Then, the other side is to go after employers, to make it impossible for them to hire people who are here illegally.

Multiple calls to the White House seeking a response to this report were not returned.

Cybercast News Service Correspondent Jered Ede contributed to this report.

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