July 28, 2007

Rep. Luis Gutierrez still promoting immigration "reform" (and serf labor)

Rep. Luis Gutierrez ("El Payaso"; D-IL) offers "Congress should restart immigration reform process". Even his co-author of the STRIVE Act, Jeff Flake, says their bill is dead. But, whether he knows that and is just playing to his base or whether he actually thinks it has a chance, he's keeping on keeping on:

As most people who are familiar with the legislative process understand, being against something is easy. Embracing heated political rhetoric is easy. Pandering to conservative radio hosts and playing into people's fears is easy.

You know what is not easy, and what was often overlooked during the debate, is the struggle and sacrifice of the immigrant who gets up at the crack of dawn each morning to go take care of someone else's kids, or the young father working the midnight shift on a cleaning crew, or the woman picking vegetables in oppressive heat for 12 hours a day. You know what is not easy is worrying each day that your husband will not come home from work or that you will be swept up in a raid and your U.S. citizen children will be left helpless and alone.

Talk radio sure got under their skin, didn't it? Note also that in this context, "immigrant" means "illegal alien", because that's who 'reform" is targetting. And, as he did before, Gutierrez is in effect supporting low-wage workers working in undesirable conditions.

He goes on to mislead and display how he's not doing his job:

Let's start with Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.). He is on record as saying "if it hurts the bill, I'm for it." Let's put aside the fact that he was trying to hurt our efforts to add thousands of additional border agents and create the most robust employment verification system in our nation's history, and that he was effectively advocating for the horrific status quo of porous borders, workplace discrimination and exploitation and the continued destruction of families.

Obviously, the bill did much more than Gutierrez lists above, and those parts (the massive amnesty for instance) were what DeMint was opposed to. And, Gutierrez could do something about the negatives in the last sentence... by opposing illegal immigration. Instead, he supports illegal immigration, and I think we know why:

First, we must better organize and mobilize our immigrant community and our true allies. We need to redouble our efforts to naturalize immigrants, register them to vote and turn them out on Election Day. Immigrants will remember who stood with them for fairness and justice and will elect leaders and representatives who stand for border security, economic vitality and family unity.

In brief, Democrat Luis Gutierrez is willing to put better working conditions and his oath to support our laws aside, just as long as he can get votes out of the deal.

Posted to Immigration2007a at July 28, 2007 12:47 PM