Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL), one of the House Republicans leading a push for curbs on immigration, fired back today at immigration expansionist Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) for his recent declaration that Republicans who want limits on record immigration are “racist.”

“Congressman Luis Gutierrez has long been blinded by his desire to support illegal aliens regardless of the damage they do to struggling American families,” Brooks said.

Despite his over-the-top rhetoric to the contrary, Mr. Gutierrez misses the boat when he loudly proclaims that efforts to secure America’s borders will cost Republicans elections. In 2010, Republicans captured the House of Representatives.  In 2014, Republicans captured the U.S. Senate.  In both instances, the border security issue broke strongly in favor of Republican candidates.

Contrast that to 2008, when Republicans fielded Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) for president. McCain had led the push for legislation to provide citizenship to illegal aliens and to increase the large-scale admission of foreign workers on visas. McCain later went on in 2013 to introduce another bill to extend citizenship to illegal aliens and to expand future immigration above historic highs, joined by current presidential aspirants Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Lindsay Graham (R-SC).

In 2012, Mitt Romney did not make immigration an issue in the general election, and largely ignored the President’s executive amnesty for younger illegal aliens. Romney also called for expanding the labor supply through immigration, saying that, “If you get an advanced degree here, we want you to stay here, so we will staple a green card to your diploma”—an initiative supported by technology corporations who believe increased jobs competition will control labor costs.

Continuing his rebuttal, Brooks added: “It saddens me that Mr. Gutierrez repeatedly labels as ‘racist’ those of us who believe in America and border security. Baseless name-calling degrades the debate and is usually the last resort of those who lack intellectual thought and rational support for their public policy positions.”

Brooks then addressed concerns over Balkanization:

For reasons I find unfathomable, Mr. Gutierrez repeatedly segregates Hispanic-Americans and treats them as if they were not American citizens, too. He is wrong to do so. Mr. Gutierrez would do well to remember that ALL Americans, regardless of race, ethnicity or sex , are hurt by the criminal conduct of illegal aliens; that ALL Americans, regardless of race, ethnicity or sex, are losing their jobs and seeing their incomes suppressed by the surge in cheap illegal alien labor.

He concluded:

I cannot speak for Mr. Gutierrez, but, as for me, I represent ALL Americans, regardless of race, ethnicity or sex.  And I will do everything I can to secure our borders from the damage being done to ALL Americans by the lawless conduct of illegal aliens.

While many Republican donors, leaders and a number of current Republican presidential aspirants oppose Brooks’ push for immigration curbs, the congressman often cites government data and economic studies to support his call for lower immigration levels.

For instance, according to a report from the Center for Immigration Studies, for every two immigrants admitted to the United States between 2000 and 2014 only one job was added – a 2:1 ratio that populists like Brooks argue explains why labor force participation is at historic lows.

Beyond illegal immigration, each year the U.S. adds 1 million new permanent immigrants on green cards, joined by nearly 1 million foreign workers, dependents and refugees, and about half a million new foreigners sought by university admissions boards. As a result of these high immigration quotas, one-fourth of the United States population are now either immigrants or have immigrant parents.