OTTUMWA — Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo said the fight over immigration amnesty is not over, and that he expects more attempts to grant illegal immigrants official status.

Tancredo, whose presidential campaign focuses largely on illegal immigration, said Congress stumbled on this summer’s immigration bill because people sent them an unequivocal message.

“It was an amnesty bill. They started pushing it as hard as they could. And we were worried, because there you had the President of the United States, the Congress,” he said during a visit to Ottumwa Thursday morning. “You stopped a lousy bill and one that was greased. It was coming down. It was like fish; it just kept getting smellier and smellier.”

Tancredo praised people who spoke against the bill, saying protests left Washington politicians without cover.

“It’s called making them see the light by feeling the heat,” he said. “The system still works.”

Tancredo sees immigration as a primary threat to American cohesion. Previous waves of immigration were offset by lulls, he said. Those lulls allowed time for immigrants to assimilate. But he said the past 40 years has not allowed a lull, meaning there is no pressure, and, in many cases, no need to assimilate.

The speech ridiculed rivals who say they’re against amnesty but say deportation is not an option. Tancredo said enforcement of the law solves the problem. Hammer businesses who hire illegal immigrants, and they quit doing it. That dries up the jobs. If jobs disappear, so do people.

The Republican congressman pointed to a Colorado law that cracked down on businesses. The result was a drop in the number of illegal immigrants coming to the state and the departure of many of those already present. He calls the approach “attrition by enforcement.”

He said a similar approach will work nationally and questioned why the country should bother with laws it will not enforce.

“Do we have it on the books or do we not?” Tancredo asked. “If you don’t want it on the books, repeal it. If it’s on the books, enforce it.”

Tancredo also criticized publications, including the White House Web site, that offers information in multiple languages.

“Bilingual countries do not work. They do not work very well,” he said.

Border security offers solid training for American military personnel, Tancredo said. He talked about an experiment in which 100 Marines took responsibility for watching 100 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border. They acted as eyes and ears for the border agents, using remote control planes and rugged vehicles. He said the Marine commander told him it was good training because it offered real-world opponents in very difficult conditions.

Tancredo also called for continuing U.S. engagement in Iraq. He said the nation is part of a clash between western thought and radical Islam.

Withdrawal is not an option to Tancredo, but reconfiguration is. He said the Iraqi government has sufficient force to begin taking over basic police duties from American troops. He said Iraqi police can better relate to their countrymen and are in a better position to build relationships with them than Americans.