(AgapePress) - The chairman of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus is blasting House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt for telling a radical Hispanic group he want to grant legal status to millions of illegal aliens.

Republican Tom Tancredo says that kind of political pandering to Hispanics in order to gain more Democratic votes in the fall elections is not appreciated by most of the countries 35-million Latinos.

Missouri Democrat Dick Gephardt received a standing ovation when he told the annual meeting of the National Council of La Raza in Miami that he will introduce legislation to legalize undocumented workers who have lived in this country for five years and worked here at least three years.

But Tancredo, who chairs the Immigration Reform Cascus, says the Republican leadership probably will not allow Gephardt's bill to reach the floor for debate anyway.

He indicated the only purpose served by that would be to give the Democrats a lot of fodder for television sound bites attacking Republicans on the measure. He speculated because of that, a bill would not even get to the floor for discussion.

Tancredo questions Gephardt's decision to talk to such a radical group as La Raza. He said the meeting had various speakers including the past-president of Mexico who said "the nation of Mexico extends beyond their borders."

Tancredo says he plans to vigorously oppose Gephardt's bill.

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