Democratic Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Illinois came out swinging against President Donald Trump’s executive order designed to crack down on so-called sanctuary cities, vowing “to fight.”
“See he looks at them as illegals, right? He uses that term, as these aliens,” Gutierrez told CNN’s Erin Burnett on “OutFront.” “We look at them as people who in our community, husbands, wives, children, our neighbors; they go to church with us, they are an integral part of our community. So we say to Donald Trump, ‘We’re going to fight you.'”
Trump’s order will “strip federal grant money from the sanctuary states and cities that harbor illegal immigrants,” according to White House press secretary Sean Spicer.
“First of all, we’re going to fight,” Gutierrez said. “We’re going to organize lawyers, we’re going to organize community activists so that no one is left without help.”
Gutierrez also slammed Trump’s two executive orders directing the construction of a wall on the US-Mexico border, boosting border patrol forces and increasing the number of immigration enforcement officers who carry out deportations.
“This great wall that he wants — I imagine he wants to put Trump on it in gold letters,” he said. “Looking at this from a global perspective, look if you push Mexico away … you build a wall, you will push them straight into China’s hands,” he said.
He added: “They’re our trading partner, they’re our friend, they’re our ally.”
Gutierrez accused the President Thursday of making moves that are more rooted in politics than concern for citizens.
“Let’s state the fact: Chicago has a problem,” he told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota on “New Day.” “But simply talking about it is not a solution. And I think that what President Trump has done is simply say, ‘Look at the carnage,’ without offering a solution.”
“What we need is a President that doesn’t tweet but offers real solutions,” the Illinois lawmaker added. “Because then what you’re doing is you’re simply using the death and the murders of children and young people and Chicagoans for your own political gain.”
Trump tweeted earlier this week that he would “send in the Feds” if Chicago doesn’t fix the “horrible ‘carnage'” going on.
“If Chicago doesn’t fix the horrible ‘carnage’ going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016), I will send in the Feds,” he wrote.
The Chicago Police Department told CNN there have been 38 homicides and 182 shooting incidents in the city in 2017.