Sunday on MSNBC, Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-IL) said the Republican immigration bill endorsed by President Donald Trump was an “absolutely a racist proposal.”
Gutiérrez said, “I think this is absolutely a racist proposal. There is no doubt in my mind. If you take diversity visas, Alex. everyone knows 90 percent of the diversity visas go to who? Black people who live in Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa or the Caribbean. And you just eliminate it? Senator Rubio’s parents wouldn’t have made it through this. My parents wouldn’t have made it through it. They didn’t have a college education. They couldn’t speak English and, yet, Rubio went on to the Senate, and I went on to the House of Representatives.”
He continued, “I think this is an anti-American and it is based — Alex, when you talk about, when you have a president of the United States that walks down those escalators and announce he’s running for president and says Mexicans are murderers, rapists, drug dealers and we need to get rid of them. And then you say, let’s make English— English has always been an important part of our immigration policy, but you know when you pass an English test, Alex, you pass it when you become a citizen of the United States. When you want to take that ultimate step. That’s always been there, and I think it always will be.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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