Congressman Luis Gutiérrez (D-IL) is warning President Obama that if he doesn’t announce amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants there could be a “civil war” in the Democrat Party.
Gutiérrez has been a staunch advocate for blanket amnesty and was one of the loudest voices urging Obama to use his executive authority to institute a fiat of amnesty to millions of illegals before the midterm elections, something that Obama shied away from.
Unhappy that the President refused his entreaties, the Chicago Congressman now has a warning for Obama.
“This problem that you see, politically, is nothing in comparison to the civil war that will be created politically in the Democratic party should the president not be broad and generous in his use of prosecutorial discretion,” Gutiérrez told the UK Guardian. “Because Latinos will not be deciding whether or not they vote, but whether or not they are in the Democratic Party.”
Gutiérrez went on to say that Obama has created a “self-inflicted” wound on the Democrat Party by breaking his earlier promises to deal with immigration. And he warned that Latinos may decide that the Democrat Party isn’t their home after all.
“Unfortunately people are going to punish their very friends and their very allies who had nothing to do with the president’s decision,” Gutiérrez warned.
But while Gutiérrez is attempting to use the amnesty issue to shore up his own personal power base, some say that Hispanics aren’t really that upset with Obama’s failure to issue a blanket amnesty.
A recent Pew poll found that Hispanics are split relatively evenly on whether or not they are upset over Obama’s immigration delay.
Supporting the Congressman’s warning that Hispanics aren’t sold on the Democrats, another poll found that 50 percent of Latinos say it doesn’t matter which party controls the Senate after Tuesday’s election.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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