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Immigration See other Immigration Articles Title: Lawmaker Luis Gutierrez wants to hear immigrants EL PASO - An Illinois congressman who for years has carried the mantle of immigration reform will be in El Paso on Friday to document the testimony of immigrants who say their families have been divided by U.S. immigration policies. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, a Democrat from Chicago, is making El Paso one of 17 stops on his Family Unity outreach tour. He also is visiting cities in California, Florida, Georgia and New Mexico. "Across this country, parents and children, husbands and wives are being torn apart by a system that values quotas over family values, and which undermines our economic security in a time of crisis," Gutierrez said. "Through this effort, Texans are standing up for real, lasting change." He was referring to cases in which some members of a household have a legal right to be in the United States but others do not. Critics of Gutierrez said his approach to spare these families from immigration law effectively would reward lawbreakers. "The law is not breaking up families. It's the decisions that mom and dad make," said Shannon McGauley, president of the Texas Minutemen Project. Adults who enter the United States illegally, then have children, put their families at risk, McGauley said. So far, Gutierrez has visited a half-dozen cities on his national tour, each time hearing stories from people who have struggled to keep their families together and maintain legal residency status. Gutierrez comes to El Paso ahead of trips to Dallas and Mission, Texas, this weekend. Gutierrez, 55, is an eight-term member of Congress. He has championed immigration reform, and has sponsored bills in each of the last three sessions to prevent families from being divided because of immigrant status. A former social worker and teacher, Gutierrez calls himself the first Latino elected to Congress from the Midwest. "No city in America has been spared the devastating effects of our broken system," Gutierrez said in a statement. "As a nation - as citizens - we cannot wait any longer for fair and just immigration reform." Betty Camargo, political coordinator for the Border Network for Human Rights, said Gutierrez's tour to listen to immigrant stories may be part of a larger movement. She said President Barack Obama has promised to foster a national dialogue on immigration reform, so the time could be ripe. "To have him here to listen to people from the border - to learn from community members - it's a positive thing," Camargo said. "Gutierrez is always proactive and very vocal about the necessity of comprehensive, just and humane immigration reform." Darren Meritz may be reached at dmeritz@elpasotimes.com; 546-6127. Make plans Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., and Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, will hear from immigrants at a vigil and town hall meeting at 7 p.m. Friday at Templo de Alabanza, 2111 Wyoming. The meeting has been co-organized by the Border Network for Human Rights, an advocacy group for immigrants.
Poster Comment: I would just hate it if some kind of plague would hit people like the moron, Gutierrez, and wipe them out. It would truly be a shame and I would probably snub around about it for a long time, maybe as long as two seconds but I think I could recover.
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#1. To: James Deffenbach (#0)
and what is Luis's definition of fair and just?
I would assume his definition would be to let everyone in who can make it across the border. Apparently the Nimrods in government, too many of them anyway, think that once they make it here they are "on base" and they can't be bothered then. Kinda like a kid's game. The sad part is though that when you have illegals such as the ones that make up MS-13 it is not a game but deadly serious.
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. |
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