AIKEN - A Colorado congressman who has been an outspoken critic of U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham's stance on illegal immigrants visited the South Carolina senator's backyard Monday to call for tougher immigration laws.

Rep Tom Tancredo took it easy on his fellow Republican during a 40-minute speech at a special meeting of the Aiken County Republican Club.

However, he did not mince words about the illegal immigrants who are coming to the United States.

"It is the most important domestic policy issue that we can deal with," he said.

He said thousands of illegal immigrants are crossing our borders every day to do jobs that Americans will not do - at the price that employers are willing to pay.

"The price of cheap labor is very, very high," Mr. Tancredo said.

He said Americans are paying the health care costs of illegal immigrants, educating their children in our schools and witnessing the demise of Western civilization.

"The borders are porous - northern and southern. And as a result of that, people are able to come into this country at their desire whether or not we need them," Mr. Tancredo said.

He said he is trying to persuade his colleagues to oppose a McCain-Kennedy Bill, which, he said, would legalize almost all of the 11 million or more illegal immigrants in the country.

"We've got one other problem right now in trying to get this done," he said. "It's called the president of the United States."

He said Mr. Bush's strategy seems to be "we'll catch them once they get here."

About 75 people attended the meeting, but most members of the Aiken County legislative delegation were noticeably absent. Aiken County Councilman Gary Bunker and state Rep. Jim Stewart, R-Aiken, were the only elected officials there.

"I can't make policy based on the needs of the rest of the world. I have to make policy based on the needs of the people I represent," Mr. Tancredo told the supportive crowd.

Kevin Bishop, a spokesman for Mr. Graham, issued an e-mail statement Monday afternoon on behalf of the senator: "Sen. Graham believes we must do a better job of protecting our nation's borders.

However, he does not agree with Mr. Tancredo that border security alone will solve our immigration problems. Senator Graham, like President Bush, believes we must address our nation's immigration problems in a comprehensive manner, which includes securing our borders, establishing a workable employer enforcement mechanism, and instituting a procedure to deal with the estimated 11 million undocumented workers in the United States."

Mr. Tancredo has stopped in several South Carolina cities, including Greenville-Spartanburg, Columbia and Maysville.

Mr. Bunker said the Colorado representative could be testing the waters for a presidential run. He said he thought Mr. Tancredo might seek the GOP nomination if no one else champions the illegal immigration issue.