El Gallito getting busted at the White House for immigration reform is getting old

I don’t doubt the sincerity of Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., when it comes to supporting immigration reform. But I’m starting to wonder about the congressman’s tactics.

GUTIERREZ: Did we need an encore?



Gutierrez was among a group of activists who earlier this week decided to protest outside of the White House. They believe that President Barack Obama ought to be using his authority more in ways to get incremental measures to benefit immigration reform – instead of giving up on account that he can’t get the total package due to opposition from the conservative ideologues who dominate the GOP these days.

PROTEST, IN AND of itself, is not a crime (even though some people in our society seem to think it ought to be).

But what got Gutierrez in legal trouble was the fact that White House officials (for the past decade since the World Trade Center) are eager to control movement of people around the presidential mansion.

There are parts of the grounds adjacent to the White House where people are not allowed to stop and stare. It amounts to “keep moving,” similar to the way people must behave when they are near a federal correctional center.

So Gutierrez’ “crime” is that he and other activists decided to sit down while occupying an area where they were supposed to keep moving.

ALL OF THE activists, including the congressman, were taken into custody by the U.S. Park police and charged with disobeying an official order. It is such a minor charge that the matter is considered resolved after Gutierrez paid a $100 fine the same day.

I’m sure Gutierrez is going to claim he did this as a statement against inaction on immigration reform. I don’t doubt he means what he “says” when he sits in front of the White House.

Perhaps we’d be better off if more people were willing to take some sort of action on this issue, rather than sit on the sidelines.

Yet I have to admit that my initial reaction to learning of Gutierrez’ arrest this week was something along the lines of, “That, again?!??”

BECAUSE I COULDN’T help but remember a previous protest outside the White House in May of last year. Same issue. Same protest location. Same act of disobedience. Same reaction by the police.

In fact, it also had the same result – the same charge and same outcome. Luis Gutierrez is now out another $100 to make his statement against inaction on immigration reform.

About the only difference I could tell was one line in a Reuters wire service report about Gutierrez’ latest arrest – he was released from police custody in time for him to arrive on Capitol Hill and participate in the House of Representatives’ last vote of the day on Tuesday.

At what point does repeating a stunt just to get arrested become cheap, and thereby cheapen the “statement” that he’s trying to make? Because the last thing I’d want to see happen is Gutierrez become the clown prince of the immigration reform movement.

SO MAYBE WHAT I’m saying is that I’d like to see Gutierrez behave more like a congressman pushing for public policy, rather than the loudmouthed activist of three decades ago who got the nickname El Gallito.

The spirit of a cocky bantam rooster can be of use on this issue. But the bureaucratic mess of our immigration policy is in desperate need of a cleanup.

Letting people who are desperate to find ways to downplay the issue’s significance turn Gutierrez’ repeated arrests into a tacky punch line would be a disservice.

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