Rep. Luis Gutierrez: We Need to Get Immigration Reform Passed This Year

Feenmi · 10:06 PM

love this guy. Much respect to him. God bless him.

Quote:

(Washington) - The following is a statement by Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-IL), Chair of the Immigration Task Force of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, a Member of the Judiciary Committee, and chief author of H.R. 4321, The Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security Act (CIR ASAP), which was introduced in the House in December 2009 and has 96 co-sponsors.

I am pleased to see Majority Leader Harry Reid, Sen. Chuck Schumer, and Sen. Robert Menendez taking the lead and preparing a bill for introduction. The details matter and I am anxious to see them, but the most important thing to me is the forward progress.

The issue of immigration is one of the most complex and politically difficult issues because there is so much passion on all sides. It literally goes to the very heart of what it means to be an American and so I praise the leadership we are seeing in the Senate and I respect their courage.

Right now, we need to roll up our sleeves and get to work on solving the difficult problems of our broken immigration system. We are running out of time to have a bill introduced, debated, and passed in the Senate, sent over to the House for further action, and to complete the process by sending a bill to the President's desk. The policy details matter, but at this point, concrete steps in the process of passing a bill matter much, much more and the details will become clearer when a bill is introduced.

The Democrats need to make it crystal clear where we stand on comprehensive immigration reform. We should clearly articulate our approach, make it unmistakable that we are serious and sincere in our effort to pass a bill, and invite the Republicans to join us at the table we have set. Then, if no Republicans come forward, we will know whether they are serious about solving problems, standing up for what they believe in, or caving in to the lowest common denominator anti-immigration politics of some in their base.

In the Senate, as in the House, the Democrats will provide 90 percent of the votes for immigration reform and we will need 10 percent of the votes to come from the other side of the aisle. Whatever happens, we need the President to step up his effort to move legislation forward and we need his full court press to get a result.

For myself, I know I am going to keep the pressure up on the White House, on the Leadership in my Party, and on the Members across the aisle. We need to get a bill passed this year. If we lose hope or lose momentum or lose sight of our goal, disasters like the Arizona bill are the result. We cannot afford to let the American people down and we cannot afford to allow the continued assault on immigrant families that we are seeing from coast to coast.

Ironically, the actions of Republicans in Arizona have lit a fire in immigrant and Latino neighborhoods and have galvanized national support for a serious immigration overhaul. We have been flirting with immigration reform for years, but I think if we keep the pressure up in this political year, we can enact reform that respects working people, reunites families, secures the border, and ends illegal immigration.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-lu..._b_557878.html

dreamberry · 04-29-2010, 09:50 PM

Reading this makes my heart beat and it brings a big smile to my face.

dtrt09 · 04-29-2010, 10:45 PM

How convenient that an immigration"blueprint" is released just two days before massive pro-immigration reform demonstrations...my,my what a coincidence!

A bill has to be debated in the next two months MAXIMUM otherwise it is not going to pass. And I assumed that most people who post here were well past the age of 18; I cannot believe that most of you don't see that the president isn't into CIR at all. Does that mean that activists should not keep pushing? Absolutely not. When Obama talks about CIR there's no interest, much less enthusiasm; we can all see that he's being forced to consider doing something about it. How sad and deceptive.

This 26-page "outline" spends its first 18 pages talking about enforcement; additional ICE work-site raids and deportations; barely mentions DREAM act; and it all honesty it is a Republican blueprint. Go back and read in THOMAS the CIR versions of 2006 and 2007 and they are far, far more progressive than this. Until a CIR bill is signed, sealed and delivered, we cannot assume anything, hope for something and believe everything these politicians say. The fact that every 20 min. a new article is published either in favor or against CIR with official 'quotes' from elected officials is the media's way of showing just how dishonest this Congress and Administration are.

dreamberry · 04-29-2010, 10:58 PM

Do you realize that there is absolutely no chance of an immigration reform like 2006 & 2007 to ever pass this year nor the years ahead? The so called war on drugs and the recent folks that have died near the border is a major call for enhanced border security even by those who supported a CIR from 2006/07'.

DogShekki · 04-29-2010, 10:58 PM

when i heard news like this it make my day better
but when i heard bad news it make my day stupid.
love it!!

SuperGSPorty · 04-29-2010, 11:48 PM

Yes it does...we all need to march together on Saturday to show support for legislation and pass reform.

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Rep. Luis Gutierrez: We Need to Get Immigration Reform Passed This Year