Donald Trump's comments on immigration went too far -- at least in tone -- for one of the most hardline anti-unauthorized immigration Republicans, former Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo.
The Republican presidential candidate "needs to be a little bit more artful" when discussing immigration, Tancredo told the Denver Post in an interview published Sunday.
"He should take lessons from me on how to talk to the press," Tancredo said. "For a small fee -- no, actually for a very large fee -- I will help him out. You’ve got to learn how to talk about it, which takes years of practice, which God knows I’ve had."
Trump has received considerable backlash since criticizing Mexicans during his speech announcing his run for the presidency. He said that Mexico is "sending people that have lots of problems," such as rapists, drug smugglers and other criminals. He added, "some, I assume, are good people."
He lost business deals and was criticized by even fellow Republicans for the comments, but Trump has stood by them.
Tancredo didn't take issue with the substance of what Trump said, but said he should have phrased his comments better, according to the Denver Post.
Tancredo, who held a seat in Congress from 1999 to 2009, has made failed bids for governor of Colorado and for president.
He is infamous for his stances against immigration and multiculturalism. Tancredo once said President Barack Obama should be impeached for inadequately policing the southern border, and called for undocumented immigrants to "self-deport" by making life hard for them until they decide to leave the U.S.
He has consistently criticized legal immigration levels and boycotted a debate in 2007 because it was being hosted by the Spanish-language television channel Univision and he believed bilingualism "has perilous consequences for a nation." He also argued for disallowing children born in the U.S. to undocumented immigrant mothers from citizenship -- which is granted to them by the Constitution.
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