Friday on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” fill-in host Luke Russert asked Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-IL) as he was comparing the unaccompanied minors illegally coming across the U.S.-Mexico border to children fleeing a burning house if the images of childern “sleeping in cages” will hurt President Barack Obama politically with the Latino community.
“Essentially what we’re now seeing is these images of children within the borders of the United States sleeping in cages, known as detention facilities but these are the images being beamed out across the world. How does that play within the Latino community, and how much will that hurt President Obama because some folks are saying this is derived from his policies?” he asked.
“Number one, look. the facts are very, very, very clear,” Gutiérrez replied. “This is the law of the land. And I just want to make sure that we understand, Luke — [Louie] Gohmert from Texas, Michele Bachmann, head of the Tea Party here in the House of Representatives — they all voted to protect the children when they didn’t want to exploit a humanitarian crisis at the border for political gain when there wasn’t an election. So all I’m trying to say is let’s keep the standard that’s made America great.”
Russert interrupted the congressman asking again, “But I’m asking you about how this looks when you have kids sleeping in these cages, does that — and on the president’s watch, that has to not play well into the Latino psyche of this president’s leadership.”
Gutiérrez responed: “I think what Latinos understand — this is an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. And the president is following the law.”
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