Luis Gutierrez: No Funding Bill Without ‘Safe Harbor’ for DACA Recipients

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Tony Lee

Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) said on Tuesday that he will not support a government funding bill that does not include a “safe harbor” for DACA recipients after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that President Donald Trump intends to wind down former President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) executive amnesty program.

“I personally will not support any funding bill that does not include a safe harbor for DREAMers – and I will work to have others join me in opposition,” Gutierrez said in a statement. “If they need our votes, we are bringing 800,000 young immigrants with us.”

The Chicago Democrat said he has “already spoken with Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) and will be talking to other Democrats in the House, but if Republicans need our votes, we need to have legislation to protect immigrant youth who have DACA.”

“As a movement, we will not go away, back down or give up because the President has taken this callous and destructive action,” he added. “The CHC, other Democrats, and the pro-immigrant movement fought hard against a Democratic President to win DACA and I am confident my CHC and Democratic colleagues will fight a Republican President even harder to defend DACA, in the courts, through legislation, and community by community and deportation by deportation, if necessary.”

He added that “immigrant youth, immigrant families, and our allies in all sectors of American life are here to stay, regardless of the President’s mass deportation fantasies and objectives.”

“Americans will not let this President dictate the fate of the immigrants who have placed so much trust in their country,” he continued. “We have stood at airports to resist the Muslim Ban, marched with women to protect their rights, denounced  racist and homophobic violence, and fought to defend Planned Parenthood and now young immigrants need everyone’s help.”

Gutierrez said he “watched families line up by the tens of thousands at Navy Pier in Chicago in August 2012 just for the opportunity for one or two of their children to achieve safety and security in America.”

“I am not prepared to give up on them and will not,” he declared.

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