In a speech on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday, Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) took aim at his congressional colleagues and others outside the world of Congress that have expressed their disapproval of President Barack Obama’s proposed executive amnesty action.
Gutierrez named Republicans, “unhelpful Democrats” and former Obama adviser David Axelrod in his criticisms of those who have opposed the action.
“We have not been back in D.C. for a full 24 hours and the immigration shenanigans have already begun,” Gutierrez said. “Republicans, even a few unhelpful Democrats, have been saying the president should not take executive action on immigration and should not act yet as if his intention to use his executive power under existing law is a surprise. David Axelrod, safe in the confines of the University of Chicago, has no sense of urgency because of none his family members or neighbors are facing deportation. But it’s a little different on my side of Chicago where people live in nearly constant fear that a loved one or friend will be detained and then strapped into an airplane for deportation.”
“My Chicagoans have been waiting for the Congress to act and take action for over a decade,” he continued. “Polish, Ukrainian, Irish, and Mexican have been waiting. Jamaicans and Filipinos — they have been waiting for family members to get visas and backlogs that stretch for 20 years because Congress refuses to act. And they have been heartbroken by laws that say on the one hand they can apply for a green card because they are married to a U.S. citizen, but on the other hand, they must wait in exile outside the country away from their husband or wife, their loved one for 10 years in order to get that green card.”
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