Congressman to do immigration tour

Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., has always been known in Chicago political circles for being outspoken on his pet issues. Now, he’s taking seriously the notion of being a leader on the issue of reforming the nation’s immigration laws.

Gutierrez was one of several members of Congress who met with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Thursday to discuss their concerns with immigration raids – particularly one conducted recently in Bellingham, Wash., in which 25 people were detained with the intent of deporting them from the United States.

AND ON FRIDAY, he will be in Providence, R.I., to kick off what will be a national tour, of sorts, to try to encourage people to take seriously the need to alter the laws that determine who can emigrate to the United States with ease, and who will face near-impossible odds in trying to get a visa.

It is the people in the latter category who ultimately tend to decide that slipping through a crack in the border to try to get a better life is easier than putting up with a bureaucracy designed to keep them out.

Gutierrez plans to appear in the suburbs of Atlanta on Saturday, then will venture to places such as Dallas, Detroit, Miami, Milwaukee, Phoenix and San Francisco, just to name a few.

He even plans to slip across the border into Ontario to make appearances. After all, not every person who gets into the United States without a visa comes across the Rio Bravo del Norte/Rio Grande. Many enter Canada, then travel south.

IN WHAT SEEMS like an ironic gesture, there are some people who Gutierrez would prefer not to show up at his events – his literature advises people who are not U.S. citizens and who are lacking a visa to stay away.

After all, in today’s political climate where some people are determined to view these U.S. newcomers as a criminal element rather than people trying to better their lives, perhaps he fears a Gutierrez speech could turn into a brawl.

Or else “la migra” would see it as a chance to do an immigration raid and pick up a few more potential deportees.

In one sense, it is encouraging to see Gutierrez take up the immigration issue as vociferously as he has.

BECAUSE GUTIERREZ IS of Puerto Rican ethnic background, immigration is not an issue for him personally. He is a U.S. citizen by birth, even though many people in this country probably mistakenly lump him in with other Latino ethnicities when it comes to their perspective about who should, and should not, be “legal.”

Gutierrez, whose Illinois congressional district is designed in a cockeyed way so as to incorporate as many Spanish-speaking neighborhoods of Chicago as possible, is the head of the Congress’ Immigration Task Force.

And it was in that role that Gutierrez had the meeting with Napolitano about immigration raids held Tuesday in Washington state.

Thus far, Napolitano has pleased Gutierrez and other members of Congress inclined to do serious immigration law reform – “The Hill” newspaper reported that she told them she is willing to review the policies implemented during the presidency of George W. Bush that encouraged an increase in the number of immigration raids conducted.

WHEN PRESIDENT BARACK Obama originally picked Napolitano to head Homeland Security, there were those who thought that the former Arizona governor would not be sympathetic to the immigration predicament – even though she had previously suggested that federal policies to erect a physical barrier between the United States and Mexico were misguided.

I’m not about to predict at this point how the immigration reform measure will turn out. Ultimately, it is something that will have to be done, just because the existing policies are not working – and the people who think “reform” should amount to little more than increased deportations are just too absurd to be taken seriously.

It could wind up that people like Gutierrez get remembered well by historians several decades for now for being willing to take on a position unpopular with a segment of the population.

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