Congressman Chris Cannon is proving true the axiom that "friends are sometimes boring, but enemies — never." As LaVarr details below, his detractors are creating enough mischief that some GOP regulars are expressing the potential of challenging him for the nomination. In 2004, Cannon faced a similar confrontation from former state legislator Matt Throckmorton. In 2005, the faces have changed but the issue remains the same — immigration. Along with a bipartisan collection of senators and representatives, Cannon is a sponsor of federal legislation to streamline employment of foreign laborers and offer undocumented workers opportunities to receive temporary visas and U.S. citizenship upon the payment of fines and completion of other requirements. President Bush, prominent business publications (i.e., Wall Street Journal) and national industries back the proposal.

An outspoken advocate of this immigration policy, Cannon has garnered an interesting array of enemies. Ultraconservative organizations are coordinating with left-wing environmental and zero population groups to defeat the legislation and its congressional supporters. Their arguments range from the bizarre to the downright racist. Many of the zealots claim that too many immigrants are responsible for the following: reduction of open space, lowering of average wages, closure of medical facilities, traffic gridlock, destroying small cities, preventing cultural assimilation and (my favorite) limiting individual liberties. (It is amusing that Utah County is home to many of these fanatics, since any overpopulation problems in that area are a direct result of Third World birthrates among Caucasian Provo/Orem residents in the 1980s and early 1990s.) Their Web sites are dedicated to trashing Cannon as "treacherous," "public enemy No. 1" and a "Congressmenace." The congressman is expending thousands of dollars in legal fees to defend himself against FEC investigations prompted by accusations made from anti-immigration activists.

Congressman Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., has been running around the country attacking federal politicians on immigration issues. He recently visited Utah in order to stir up support for his anti-immigration organizations and goad Cannon into another debate (Cannon wisely refused). Tancredo, who is considering a run for the presidency in 2008, is a complete nuisance. His opinion is that "if we don't control immigration, legal and illegal . . . we are no longer a nation at all." Even better, this windbag suggested that the United States should bomb the "holy sites" in Mecca as retaliation for terrorist conduct. Just by standing next to Tancredo, Cannon instantaneously becomes a statesman. From the age of 15 to my placement as a law clerk, I worked year-round in a multitude of capacities including dishwasher, busboy, janitor, manual labor for construction sites, food preparation and harvesting produce — employment that many Americans now refuse to consider. Recent arrivals to this country willing to perform the miserable tasks that millions like me undertook, regardless of their status and proper documentation, deserve the shot at citizenship the Cannon legislation provides.