Luis Gutierrez Claims He's 'Not for Amnesty'

On Sunday, Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) claimed that he is “not for amnesty” and has never spoken to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) about immigration issues.

Discussing Cantor’s shocking upset on ABC’s This Week, Gutierrez, despite traveling with Cantor to New York last year on a pro-amnesty tour, said that he has “never had a conversation with Eric Cantor about immigration.”

Gutierrez said that any Republican who is framed as supporting “amnesty” will lose and said even he was against amnesty even though he has been the most vocal and prominent amnesty supporter.

“I am not for amnesty,” he said. “I am for replacing the illegal immigration system with a legal immigration system.”

Gutierrez not only believes all of the country’s illegal immigrants should be granted citizenship, but he has also suggested that “every institution” should try to work around the country’s immigration laws. The outspoken Representative has said that DREAMers should be allowed to enlist in the military, President Barack Obama should unilaterally ease deportations and expand the temporary amnesty program to include parents of DREAMers, and has praised the Senate’s comprehensive amnesty bill and the House GOP leadership’s “immigration principles.” In fact, Gutierrez even pointed out that the House GOP’s “immigration principles,” which declared that one of the great “founding principles” of the nation was that illegal immigrant children should be given citizenship so they are not punished for the mistakes of their parents, leaves a path for all of the nation’s illegal immigrants to eventually get citizenship.

As Breitbart News reported, Cantor also tried to claim that he was an anti-amnesty warrior in the weeks leading up to the campaign, but voters in his district did not buy it. Dave Brat, who defeated Cantor, relentlessly hammered Cantor on the amnesty issue in the final month of the campaign. He sent flyers to voters tying Cantor to Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg’s push for more guest-worker visas and saying a vote for Cantor was a vote for “open borders” and the primary was the “last chance” to stop amnesty legislation.