Former Congressman Tom Tancredo joined SiriusXM host Stephen K. Bannon on Breitbart News Sunday to discuss Tancredo’s latest column for Breitbart News, “Obama Invites 18.7 Million Immigrants to Avoid Oath of Allegiance, Pledge to Defend America.”

Tancredo explained that, in July of 2015, the US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS, sometimes shortened by Tancredo to USIS) “decided there was part of the Oath of Allegiance that has been taken by millions, and millions, and millions of immigrants into this country. It’s the last thing they have to do before actually getting their citizenship” that should be made optional. It was the part of the oath in which immigrants promised, “If called upon, I will indeed take up arms to defend the United States of America.”

“They have told immigrants now – the next 18 million that are in the pipeline – they do not have to take that part of the oath. It’s still in there, but they’ve said it’s optional; you don’t have to swear,” said Tancredo.

He noted this change was made without permission from Congress, for reasons USIS has yet to disclose. “Where the hell was Congress? Where is Congress?” Tancredo asked. “Where has Congress been, over and over and over again, in these kinds of issues? They just simply did it.”

“You have to ask yourself, of course, why? What would be the reason? What would be in the minds of the USIS that would say, ‘You know, we think it’s probably a good idea to stop asking immigrants to swear that they would take up arms, if necessary, to defend the United States of America?’” he asked.

Bannon proposed an answer: “Guys adhering to sharia law are not gonna say that, right? It’s Muslims from sharia-adherent countries. It’s obvious as the nose on your face, is it not?”

“Absolutely. It is the only conclusion to which I have come, and I think the only conclusion to which most people can come,” Tancredo replied, adding:

Because there is no other reason. Nobody demanded it. No Congressman wrote them and said, “You know, this is really an imposition on people to do; please stop it.” No, this is a decision they made themselves because as the Muslim immigration population grows into this country, this may be something that would reduce the numbers, you know, if people actually had to do that.

“Over time, lots of weird things have happened in our immigration system,” Tancredo recalled, explaining:

For instance, believe it or not, there is a line in a visitor visa that says, essentially – it boils down to – “Are you a member of any terrorist organization?” Believe it or not, they added this; there’s an asterisk, and you go to the bottom, and it says: “Answering yes to this question does not mean that you would be denied entrance into the United States.”

He said this footnote was added at the behest of Senator Ted Kennedy long ago:

And the reason is because he wanted to make sure that IRA (Irish Republican Army) terrorists could come into the United States, and so they were listed at the time as a terrorist organization, but he wanted to make sure they had access, so he put this silly little thing saying, “Don’t worry: if you say you are a member of a terrorist organization, that does not disqualify you from entry into the country.”

Tancredo said it took him some time to determine if the modification to the Oath of Allegiance had been made because USCIS did not respond to inquiries made by himself and groups such as Numbers USA. “What we finally decided to do was go with what we had, and what we have is, there’s absolutely no doubt that they have made that part of the Oath optional.”

“That is the truth. That is what they’ve done. They refuse to explain why, but we have at least brought it to the attention of a lot of people, I hope, and hopefully to members of Congress,” said Tancredo.

He lamented:

I just returned from Washington, D.C., where I was a participant in something called “Holding Their Feet to the Fire.” It’s done every year by an organization called FAIR, the Federation for American Immigration Reform. What they do is, they bring in talk-show hosts from all over the country, and they bring in people like me from all over the country, and you go into a hotel where they set up these booths, and you go from booth to booth; you’re talking to, you know, 20 or 30 talk-show hosts a day from across the country. I kept bringing this up, and there was only one, actually, there was one talk-show host who was aware of it, and no member of Congress that I could find.

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