Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Chicago, who has long been an outspoken immigration advocate, says he plans to get arrested while protesting in front of the White House on Saturday.
The Congressman will join protesters who are upset with the controversial Arizona law that authorizes police to stop and search people they suspect of being undocumented immigrants.
Gutierrez has often been one of the Democrats’ leading voices on the issue, and said he voted for health care reform on the understanding that Obama and congressional Democrats would move pass immigration reform. (LINK IT)
He plans to be arrested and released in time for an appearance on “Face the Nation” on CBS Sunday Morning.
Gutierrez offering a warning that many Latinos will probably decide to stay home for the 2010 elections because of the strict new immigration law in Arizona, said, “On one hand our are not going to vote because you don’t believe people you voted for are doing a good enough job. Then you say, ‘I got to vote, because the enemy is so mean and vindictive, I got to get out there.”
According to a 2009 Pew Research Center study, 9.7 million Latinos cast ballots in 2008 and made up about 7.4 percent of the electorate.
In the 2008 election, Hispanic voters helped win battleground states such as Colorado, Florida, Nevada, and New Mexico.
GO GUTIERREZ GO!!!! BECAUSE LATINOS TRUST YOU!!!!
I think Congressman Gutierrez is very brave and such a good person. Obama should be ashamed of himself for not getting involved enough suporting Immigration Reform….We are still waiting Obama…