Wednesday on CNN’s “New Day,” when asked about White House chief of staff John Kelly saying some DREAMers were “lazy,” Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-IL) said Kelly had a “lack of Love” and a “lack of empathy.”
Gutiérrez said, “He’s really demonstrated a lack of understanding of the complexity of the legislation and the public policy. So I’ve learned that about him. But I didn’t it came with a lack of love and of warmth.”
He continued, “You can make up for the lack of understanding of the public policy if you have love, if you don’t have a lack of love, if you don’t have a lack of empathy.”
He added, “The last time I talked to him, and we were talking about temporary protective status, he said ‘Oh, Luis, we have to figure out who the dead ones are and weed them out.’ I didn’t say it, but I thought, Mr. Kelly you’ve got to sign up every year. And then he said ‘We’ll do criminal background checks.’ I said ‘They go through criminal background checks every year.’ He didn’t have an understanding of the policy. I knew that. But I didn’t think he didn’t have a lack of love, and he demonstrated that because his boss says they’re all criminals, basically and now he’s saying they’re all lazy. So it’s really a sad situation because he was supposed to be the adult in the room. He’s supposed to be that guiding, mitigating force, and he’s not.”
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