Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO). (Photo, as it appears on www.house.gov)

May 25 –– Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO), member of the House Immigration Reform Caucus and on the International Relations Committee’s Subcommittee on International Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Human Rights, is now muscling in on immigrant remittances to their home countries, while he continues his fight on work visas and other unfriendly moves against immigrants. Following a report released by the Inter-American Bank last week on Latin American immigrants’ remittances, he talked of the need to levy a 5 percent tax on that the money that immigrants send back to help their families in poor countries. “After looking at this data –– indicating that immigrants shipped $30 billion out of the country last year alone –– I don’t see how anyone can still say that illegal immigration only contributes to the U.S. economy,” he said in a press release, adding that the tax could help with better border security. “$30 billion is more than we spent on the Homeland Security Department in 2003.”