Luis Gutiérrez Reacts to Trump’s Anti-Immigration Address to Congress

Congressman Luis Gutierrez responds to Donald Trump's big speech :

The President is lying when he says he supports immigration reform in any meaningful sense. He spent most of his speech denigrating immigrants, tarring our community as criminals, drug-dealers, and killers and we cannot stand for it. He is dressing his mass deportation plans up in nicer language, but hearing every Republican applaud the President’s hateful words is very disheartening.

The President sees Latinos and immigrants as threats, as criminals, and as killers. He highlights the crimes that some immigrants have committed in an effort to turn the American people against immigration. He envisions an immigration system where quotas for PhD’s are set in Washington and the multitude of immigrants who built this country and who keep it flourishing would not be welcome. The Latino community won’t forget and won’t let that happen. And the millions of allies we have who support immigration as a fundamental and integral aspect of America’s greatness will not forget either.

The President’s speech was ripped from the pages of Breitbart and you could imagine Steve Bannon’s lips moving with every sentence. Bannon and Trump’s vision of an isolated and vengeful America, with a less diverse population and greater walls and moats is an ugly and fear-based vision.

I also found his characterization of Chicago as a murderous hellscape unfair, especially because I do not believe for an instant that Trump wants to do anything meaningful for the residents of our great city, anything to invest in jobs or in safer streets. It was a gratuitous jab at our city and I resent it.

The President has taken America around a sharp bend, veering towards a nation that is looking backwards and fearful of the future.

Some people really are against merit based immigration.