Something You Don’t See Very Often: Self-Sacrifice
Let me tell you why Rep. Luis Gutierrez deserves our support in his primary tomorrow.
Picture this: You’re driving in your car, making your typical morning commute. All of a sudden, federal agents pull you over, handcuff you, throw you in the back of an SUV, and incarcerate you. Here’s the thing -- you have a good job and a good home. You work hard, every day, to provide for yourself and your family. You follow the laws and you nurture your children. You want them to live productive, healthy lives, just as you do. But that existence is but a distant memory now. (Philip K. Dick fans, think of “Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said.”)
Not because of anything you did. But because of where you were born.
Because when you were a small child, your parents brought you to the United States. Land of the Free – except for you. That was their decision, not yours. It was entirely beyond your control; you didn’t even know how to feed yourself yet, much less how to choose your home. Now you’re stuck in jail on the charge of unlawful entry into the United States. In other words, you’re undocumented and unwanted. You are dispossessed, despised and damned. And so, after months (or maybe even years) of being treated like a felon, you’re shipped back to the country where you were born, and expelled from the only country that you know. Government agents deport you to a place where you may not even speak the language, with no money, food, shelter or identification.
Your parents brought you to the United States to make a better life for you. But in one fell swoop, that better life is over, and your life is torn asunder.
I picture the interview with the immigration official: Q. Why were you born in Mexico? A. Well, I wanted to be born in the United States, but giving birth to me was an important moment in my mother’s life, and I thought that I should be with her.
The New York Times Editorial Board recently shed some light on these inhumane practices: “The Obama administration, in expanding the surge of immigration enforcement begun under President George W. Bush, has detained and deported nearly two million people. The overwhelming majority are dealt with swiftly and summarily, without ever receiving a hearing before an immigration judge. Others who challenge their deportation … wait for years to get a resolution of their cases. Still others, lacking aggressive lawyers, languish forgotten in federal lockups across the country.”
That is the reality faced by a large chunk of the 11 million undocumented people in our country today. And it’s shameful. We’d call them “second-class citizens” – if they were citizens at all.
The undocumented may not be forgiven, but at least they are not forgotten. They have a champion in Congress: Rep. Luis Gutierrez. Congressman Luis Gutierrez has dedicated himself to being an advocate for the undocumented.
Luis Gutierrez has been a friend of the friendless, a voice for the voiceless. He faces a primary election tomorrow. Now it’s time for us to be his friend, and show him our support.
Last year, Rep. Gutierrez made a serious personal sacrifice in order to be the champion of the undocumented. He stepped down from his powerful position as the #3 Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, a subcommittee Ranking Member, so that he could devote himself to immigration reform on the House Judiciary Committee.
Let me explain what a sacrifice that is. Members of Congress join the Financial Services Committee for the same reason that Willie Sutton robbed banks: Because that’s where all the money is. It’s not just a honeypot, it’s a moneypot. Recently, Open Secrets pointed out that banking sector PACs already have dropped over $10 million in campaign contributions onto banking committee members during this election cycle, as much as all other PACs combined. As Open Secrets discreetly put it, the committee “has long been considered a ‘big money’ panel, with jurisdiction over (banks) that traditionally have been very generous with their campaign contributions to committee members.” And committee members, in return, have been “very generous” with regulatory “relief,” protection against competition, and bailouts. That’s what I loved about the Financial Services Committee when I served on it – everyone was always so “generous” to all of our Wall Street “friends.” Except for me, Luis Gutierrez, Chairman Barney Frank and a few others – all too few.
During the last Congressional term, the Public Campaign Action Fund calculated that the members of the Financial Services Committee had received $70 million in campaign contributions from the financial services sector. That’s over $1 million for each Member. Luis Gutierrez walked away from all of that cash to focus on his duties as Chair of the Immigration Taskforce.
Luis Gutierrez could have gotten all of the campaign cash he needed simply by remaining on the Financial Services Committee, and putting the arm on Wall Street lobbyists. Instead, he left that committee in order to bring millions of people out of the shadows. We should honor his sacrifice by supporting him in his election tomorrow.
Once dubbed the “Moses of the Latinos,” Congressman Gutierrez is the undisputed leader on Immigration Reform. We need him now, more than ever. Luis is up for reelection in a Democratic Primary on Tuesday, in his Chicago-area Congressional District. Join me in helping Luis part the Red Sea of bigotry by clicking here to contribute today: $5, $10, $25 or more will go a long way to ensure we retain a vocal proponent for the DREAM Act, and Immigration Reform.
Courage,
Alan Grayson
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