Rep. Gutiérrez addresses House in English and Spanish to urge supporters to not lose hope in wake of recent court decision. Announces Saturday immigration event in Chicago
Washington, DC –(ENEWSPF)–June 4, 2015. Yesterday, Rep. Luis V. Gutiérrez (D-IL) addressed the House of Representatives during the morning hour about the recent Fifth Circuit split decision on a stay request related to Texas v. United States, the suit by 26 states delaying implementation of the President’s executive actions on immigration. The Congressman started by saying he would ignore the message of the famous bumper sticker that says “Don’t Mess With Texas” and proceeded to describe the role that Texas politicians and judges are playing in delaying the President’s “lawful and sensible executive actions.”
So while most Americans no longer believe we should be trying to deport all 11 million undocumented immigrants – and especially not the ones with deep roots in the US with families – the politicians who run the State of Texas believe we should. Lived in the U.S. for five years? Driving to work anyway? Own a business that employs citizens? Too bad. The Republican leaders in Texas do not want you to be able to work on the books, pay your full share of local and national taxes, and pay for a drivers’ license. Reality and Texas should get to know one another.
At the end, he switched briefly to Spanish – an unusual measure on the Floor of the House – to send a message to Spanish speakers, “speaking directly to the millions of families who are waiting for Texas politicians and judges to stop the delay tactics.”
¡No se rindan! Hay políticos republicanos en Tejas y en otros lugares tratando de bloquear nuestro camino hacia la implementación de DACA y DAPA y quieren hacernos perder la esperanza, perder la paciencia y perder nuestra determinación.
[Don’t give up. There are Republican politicians in Texas and elsewhere trying to block our way towards implementation of DACA and DAPA and they want us to lose heart, lose patience, and lose our resolve.]
The text of the Congressman’s speech, as prepared for delivery, is below.
A video of his speech can be seen at: https://youtu.be/c_Ps5yZoulc
Rep. Luis V. Gutiérrez represents the Fourth District of Illinois, is a Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, is a Member of the Judiciary Committee and the Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security, and is the Co-Chair of the Immigration Task Force of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
Remarks as Prepared for Delivery
June 3, 2015
What does that bumper sticker say? Don’t Mess With Texas?
Well, I’m about to not follow that advice.
You see, Texas has put itself front and center in the national debate over immigration and is leading the way among the 26 states suing the federal government to stop the lawful and sensible executive actions introduced by the President.
The court case that has gotten so much national attention is Texas versus United States.
The 25 other states with Republican Governors or Attorneys General who are suing the country play second fiddle to Texas.
A week ago, in the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans, a three-judge panel issued a split decision. They did not issue a stay to the injunction of the President’s executive actions imposed by a lower court in…you guessed it…Texas.
Two out of the three judges ruled that Texas would likely be found to have standing to bring the lawsuit because Texas would have to issue more drivers’ licenses to long-term Texas residents.
Now, please note that we are not talking about free driver’s licenses. We are talking about drivers’ licenses at the same cost that everyone else pays.
They could even raise prices, for all I care.
But somehow, having more licensed drivers who can drive legally is an “unreasonable burden” on the State of Texas according to the politicians who run the state.
And so, Texas is holding up the implementation of the program around the country for as many as four million people who live in American families.
Who would these licensed drivers be? They would be immigrants who have U.S. citizen children or children who hold green cards.
They have lived and worked in American neighborhoods for years, shopped at the same grocery stores and taken their kids to the same parks and schools.
They would have submitted their fingerprints for a criminal background check at their own expense.
So while most Americans no longer believe we should be trying to deport all 11 million undocumented immigrants – and especially not the ones with deep roots in the US with families – the politicians who run the State of Texas believe we should.
Lived in the U.S. for five years? Driving to work anyway? Own a business that employs citizens? Too bad.
The Republican leaders in Texas do not want you to be able to work on the books, pay your full share of local and national taxes, and pay for a drivers’ license.
Reality and Texas should get to know one another.
Now, let’s remember, this is the same set of Texas politicians – including the Governor and some Republican Members of Congress – who are reluctant to tell some of their base voters that no, in fact, President Obama does not have a secret plan to use Wal-Mart department stores as internment camps for gun owners, which is the latest conspiracy theory promoted by Chuck Norris and others.
We can all get a chuckle from the story about Operation Jade Helm – the alleged U.S. military invasion of Texas – but it’s not as funny when we begin to realize that for the Republican Party in Texas, crazy is a constituency that must be dealt with delicately.
So I want to end by speaking directly to the millions of families who are waiting for Texas politicians and judges to stop the delay tactics.
And I will use the language many of them speak and which God understands as well, or at least I assume he speaks Spanish because he named his only son Jesús.
I will summarize my remarks first in English.
The message is that we cannot give up hope and cannot stop pushing for the implementation of the President’s executive actions just because politicians have prevented something important from happening — again.
That is why I am inviting people in Chicago to join me on Saturday in Little Village so that we can renew our commitment to prepare ourselves for DACA and DAPA.
¡No se rindan!
Hay políticos republicanos en Tejas y en otros lugares tratando de bloquear nuestro camino hacia la implementación de DACA y DAPA y quieren hacernos perder la esperanza, perder la paciencia y perder nuestra determinación.
Pero hay que permanecer fuertes y preparándonos a nosotros mismos, a nuestros hermanos y hermanas y a nuestros vecinos para estar listos cuando la corte finalmente resuelva a favor del Presidente y de los inmigrantes en Estados Unidos.
Voy a seguir luchando y necesito su ayuda. Si usted vive en Chicago venga y únase a nosotros el sábado en la mañana en la Iglesia de Santa Inés de Bohemia en La Villita.
Y dondequiera que ustedes vivan, sigan luchando y preparando a sus vecinos y a ustedes mismos para mantener a nuestras familias unidas y asegurarnos de que no estemos deportando aquellos que son un gran valor a nuestro país.
[TRANSLATION OF SPANISH SECTION:
Don’t give up.
There are Republican politicians in Texas and elsewhere trying to block our way towards implementation of DACA and DAPA and they want us to lose heart, lose patience, and lose our resolve.
But we must stay strong and prepare ourselves and our brothers and sisters and our neighbors to be ready when – eventually – the court rules in favor of America’s immigrants.
I will continue fighting and I need your help. If you live in Chicago come join us on Saturday morning in Little Village at Iglesia Santa Inez de Bohemia.
And wherever you live, continue fighting and preparing your neighbors and yourselves to keep our families together and make sure we are not deporting those who are assets to our country.]
Gracias, Mr. Speaker.
I yield back.
Source: Gutiérrez.house.gov
