WASHINGTON - Congressman Luis Gutierrez (IL-04) is reading the presidential elections polls and assuming that Donald Trump won't be the next person to be sworn in as America's law enforcer-in-chief.
He's already getting "comprehensive immigration" legislation ready to move forward - something he knows would be dead on arrival if Trump were to be elected on November 8th.
Two influential House Democrats are planning another shot at immigration reform next year, regardless of who controls the House.
Veteran Reps. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.) and Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) have already held “preliminary discussions” about crafting draft legislation after the election, which they hope will serve as the starting point for a bipartisan overhaul of immigration laws in 2017, according to a senior Democratic aide.
While immigration reform proved too difficult to accomplish under the Obama administration, Gutiérrez thinks it is doable in the next Congress, particularly if GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump does poorly with minorities. Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric has Gutiérrez convinced that Hispanics will vote in record numbers this November. If he’s right, Republicans will again be thrust into a discussion about expanding their base. Gutiérrez thinks the election could be a watershed moment if his prediction holds true.
“There are Republican women and men who want to get this done,” the Illinois Democrat said Tuesday in a phone interview. “They’re going to have the ability to turn around to their caucus and to say, ‘How much longer do we want to just push away, push aside a growing immigrant Latino community in the United States?”’
