CHICAGO – Illinois' Congressman Luis Gutierrez (IL-04) wants immigrants today to have a "more generous welcome" than his parents did when they came to the United States from Puerto Rico in the 1950s.
In the decade of 1930-1939 the annual rate of migration to the United States averaged 1,800 people annually. In the decade of 1950-1959, by contrast, the Puerto Rican exodus was taking place at a rate of 43,000 persons a year.
Gutierrez, one of Congress' most vocal and radical immigration amnesty supporters, said he will continue to fight for a "safe, legal and orderly" immigration system as he commemorated June as Immigration History Month.
