Mr. Speaker, our Nation depends on immigrants' labor, and I hope we can create an immigration system as dependable as they are.
Luis GutierrezUncertainty and fear and ignorance about immigrants, about people who are different, has a history as old as our Nation.
Luis GutierrezAnd let us not forget the Social Security system. Recent studies show that undocumented workers sustain the Social Security system with a subsidy as much as $7 billion a year. Let me repeat that: $7 billion a year.
Luis GutierrezI have traveled to Florida, I have traveled to Georgia, I have traveled to California, you and I both know that there are millions of undocumented workers that work hard, sweat soil every day to put the food we eat on our table. That's not a myth, that's a reality. Why don't we let them come with visas to this country so that then we don't have people using that border.
Luis GutierrezThe next step has to be the necessary step. It's always to put the immigrant community and the civil rights movement ahead of partisan politics.
Luis GutierrezI will argue until my last breath for a pathway to citizenship that is quick and efficient because I want to end this chapter. I want to end it...But let me say, conversely, I am as committed as any Republican to ending illegal immigration as we know it...They want to end it. So do I.
Luis Gutierrez