Rep. Luis Gutierrez Arrested Outside White House Protesting Record Deportations Under Obama’s Watch

[Jefferson23]

From Democracy Now
July 29, 2011

This week, thousands of immigrants and their allies protested outside the White House, denouncing the Obama administration for deporting more than one million immigrants in the last two years. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, Democrat from Illinois, was among the dozens of protesters arrested on Tuesday for peacefully occupying the White House sidewalk. He participated in the act of nonviolent civil disobedience one day after he received a letter from President Obama rejecting his proposal to suspend deportations of undocumented college students with clean criminal records. "I thought that for one moment, I should have my hands clasped together with handcuffs and taken away a short period of time, to bring attention and to say, I denounce policies as immoral," Gutierrez says. "Right now the Republicans are leading, in their anti-immigrant, obviously xenophobic march both in the House and in the Senate. And you know what? With the same energy and vigor that they lead against us with hatred and bigotry, we want to stand up with that same energy for us."

snip* In his letter, Obama claimed that immigration authorities were deporting fewer immigrants who lack legal status but have not been convicted of any crime. However, immigrant rights activists say the majority of those deported under Obama’s watch have had no criminal records whatsoever. They also note that the Obama administration has ramped up deportation efforts through programs like Secure Communities, which allows immigration agents to peer into the databases of local and county jails to check the fingerprints of anyone who’s booked against federal immigration databases.

snip* AMY GOODMAN: We’re joined right now from Washington, D.C., by Congress Member Luis Gutierrez, the Democratic Congressman from Illinois, chair of the Immigration Task Force of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Congress Member Gutierrez, among those arrested Tuesday while protesting outside the White House.

Welcome to Democracy Now!, Congress Member Gutierrez. Why did you get arrested exactly?

REP. LUIS GUTIERREZ: Because I think we have to bring attention to the plight, to the destructive, corrosive nature of our broken immigration system. Because I have Specialist Nunez, a wonderful young Hispanic man who served five years in the military, signed up again because he thought he had to go fight in Afghanistan. And you know what? His wife is deported to Ciudad Juárez in Mexico. Because we have so many thousands and thousands and thousands of families. Because we have four million American citizen children. You know, today, there are going to be American citizen children who are going to lose their parents. And so, I thought that for one moment, I should have my hands clasped together with handcuffs and taken away a short period of time, to bring attention and to say, I denounce these policies as immoral.

in full: http://www.democracynow.org/2011/7/29/rep_luis_gutierrez_arrested_outside_white