By Cheryl Chumley
January 31, 2016
NewsWithViews.com Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) is poised to travel the nation in partnership with Hispanic rights groups, find a million legal migrants, immigrants and green card holders, and get them naturalized by May so they can vote against Donald Trump.
It's been dubbed the "Stand Up to Hate: Naturalize, Register, Vote" tour What a dismal waste of the taxpayer's dime and an entirely improper role for a seated congressman who's supposed to represent real constituents, not would-be or wanna-be ones.
"Our goal is to have one million to become new U.S. citizens this year and we've got to get it done by the end of May," he said, in a press call reported by Politico. "This is realistic."
And speed is apparently of the essence.
"One of the main reasons we're recommending people naturalize now is to stand up to the hate the rhetoric of this political season," he said, pointing to Trump as the main divider.
Specifically, Gutierrez will be joining forces with the Latino Victory Foundation, the National Partnership for New Americans, Mi Familia Vota, America Action and the Service Employees International Union, as well as with Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) to attend or sponsor 100 or so rallies and workshops in Nevada, Colorado and other key battleground spots.
Their four-month goal of naturalizing a million is ambitious.
The pathway to citizenship is normally lengthy, somewhere between six months and several years, and includes paperwork, fingerprinting, interviews and exams. As the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reports in its "10 Steps to Naturalization" pamphlet, "the most common reasons for continuation [of application] are you fail the English and/or civics test" or "the USCIS officer determines you need to provide additional documents." Failing the written exams alone leads to another 60-to-90 day delay - and that's if the bureaucratic wheels are all moving at textbook example speed.
The naturalization process also includes substantial fees, though the payment process is filled with waiver applications and exemptions – and likely, Gutierrez and his minions will help considerably in this regard.
This is all such outrage.
Think what you will of Trump. Love him or hate him, or regard him somewhere in between. But here's a glance at Gutierrez's compass: "In 1986, Gutierrez was elected alderman [in Chicago] … At the time, he was a member of the Puerto Rican Socialiist Party, a Marxist-Leninist entity. … In the mid-1990s, [U.S. Rep.] Gutierrez developed close ties to the pro-socialist New Party in Chicago. … In 1999 he collaborated with fellow Progressive Caucus members … to pressure President Billl Clinton (through Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder) to free 16 convicted terrorists belonging to the FALN, a Marxist-Leninist paramilitary organization that had carried out 146 bombings during a 25-year period, killing nine people while injuring and maiming dozens of others. Indeed, Gutierrez was the FALN's chief spokesman and advocate," DiscovertheNetworks.org reported.
He's since spent much of his Capitol Hill time advancing radical amnesty and immigration causes – this "Stand Up to Hate" tour the latest.
His record is clear. Gutierrez is a disgrace to his office and ought to be drummed from Capitol Hill. The fact that he's not – the fact that this aaudacious un-American congressman is allowed to boldly use his public servant position to further his personal agenda for those who aren't even voting constituents without worry of losing his seat – only underscores why Trump's messages aree resonating in the first place: We very badly need to make the country great again.