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Colorado Congressman calls for FCC investigation of Spanish language radio station

By Matthew Lasar
Created Jan 27 2006 - 12:00am

Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo of Colorado has called for an FCC investigation of KROM in San Antonio, Texas, accusing the radio station of tipping off undocumented workers about the location of border agents in the area. "According to recent media reports, KROM . . . has been broadcasting the location of Border Patrol personnel in an effort to help immigrants avoid checkpoints and patrols," Tancredo charges.

Actually the reports from the San Antonio Express News say that KROM deejays jokingly disclose the location of "limones verdes," or "green limes" around the San Antonio area, a euphemism for the green sports utility vehicles immigraton police drive. The border patrol has never complained about the practice. The San Antonio office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing.

But Will Adams, press spokesperson for Rep. Tancredo, says he still thinks the practice may be illegal. "I don't know how thoroughly the San Antonio office investigated this," Adams told lasarletter.com, and suggested possible incompetence on the part of U.S. Customs. "Just because they gave them a pass on it doesn't mean what they did was legal."

Adams says Tancredo learned about KROM from activists while appearing in San Antonio as part of his "Secure America" tour, a bid to get Congress to pass tougher immigration laws. Tancredo's press release calls for an "FCC review whether or not the station’s decision to impede the activities of the Department of Homeland Security violates the law," adding that if so, he hopes "that the FCC will take appropriate enforcement action against the station—including but not limited to suspending the station’s broadcasting privileges."



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