[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 129 (Wednesday, September 9, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H5854-H5855]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              IMMIGRATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Gutierrez) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GUTIERREZ. Mr. Speaker, you know in the movies when someone has 
to make a choice and a little devil and a little angel appear on their 
shoulder to give good and bad advice? Well, that is what I feel America 
is going to feel like in a couple of weeks when His Holiness Pope 
Francisco comes to visit us, including an address in this very room.
  On one shoulder, we have a billionaire out there saying Mexicans are 
murderers; immigrants come to this country to get on welfare; our best 
days are behind us; and just getting tough and insulting people will 
solve all of our problems and make us great again.
  And almost everyone else in his party is scrambling to catch up so 
they don't miss out on the wave of populist anger he is tapping and 
feeding with a mix of untruths, half-truths, and good old-fashioned 
racism.
  On the other shoulder is a man who is not afraid to touch the feet of 
the poor and recognizes their humanity even in their poverty. He is a 
man who sees actual human problems, like our environment, and tries to 
bring us together to do something about it. He is a man who, through 
deeds, declarations, and his own demeanor says in a clear voice: 
Welcome the stranger, and come onto me.
  He does not blame a nation's problems on the strangers at the gate or 
says ``get the hell out.'' In many ways, Pope Francis represents the 
Anti-Trump, the antidote to his venom.
  I, like a lot of my Democratic colleagues and a lot of my Catholic 
colleagues and, frankly, the majority of American of all faiths and 
political stripes across the Nation, am very much looking forward to 
the Pope's visit and the Pope's words because our Nation needs a 
counterbalance, a counterweight, to what has become the ugliest, most 
xenophobic, and most anti-immigration campaign in anyone's memory.
  You can also throw in large helpings of anti-woman, anti-
environmental, and anti-poor attacks in there as well.
  Shortly after The Donald announced with great fanfare and extreme 
insult and unvarnished racism that he would inflict his campaign for 
the White House on the Nation, I came to this well to address my 
colleagues on July 9.
  I discussed a reasoned approach to dealing with the immigrant 
criminals who must be locked up and deported and distinguishing them 
from the vast majority of America's immigrants who live peacefully and 
helpfully among us.
  They come here to work and to make a better life for themselves and 
their families, as my parents did when they left Puerto Rico in the 
fifties to seek a better life, eventually landing in Chicago.
  It is the strength and the advantage of our Nation that we come from 
everywhere, but we have put together the best Nation on Earth by 
working together. It is what defines us as a people.
  Most of our ancestors came to this land of their own free will, and 
some did not. Most came here seeking a dream or running away from a 
nightmare or sometimes both.
  Most of us came here legally, sometimes waiting in lines that lasted 
years. And some of us, when legality was not an option and there was no 
line to stand in, came anyway because work and freedom are so 
plentiful.
  But in the United States, we came together from many nations and 
traditions and languages and religions and made the one Nation that 
stands above all others as the defender of liberty, the engine of the 
world economy, and the beacon of freedom recognized in every corner of 
the globe.
  We are proud of our accomplishments, as we should be, despite our 
humble beginnings, when no one and no other nation thought we could 
survive to take our place among the nations of the world.
  As the Pope joins us this month to deliver his message of peace and 
inclusion, I urge all of us to remember the many challenges we have 
faced as a Nation and the many obstacles we have overcome.

[[Page H5855]]

  Just a few decades ago the thought of a Catholic President was 
outrageous and the thought of a Pope addressing a Joint Session of 
Congress was far-fetched, just about as far-fetched as a Black 
President of the United States, a woman President, or a Latino Pope 
from Latin America.
  Over the decades, in fits and starts, marching forward, being pushed 
back, marching forward again arm in arm, we have spent more time 
listening to our better angels and their advice, taking us toward a 
brighter future as a Nation and less time listening to our darker 
influences who lament progress and seek to divide us from one another.

                              {time}  1015

  I think, in this Capitol Building, in this Chamber, when the Pope 
speaks to us, we will see two paths in very sharp relief. Build a wall 
or build a bridge? Help our brother or turn our backs? Belittle our 
sister or share her heavy load? Incite distrust and division or foster 
unity to face our challenges because we are stronger together?
  For this Catholic American, for this man who has sometimes struggled 
with the church and is not always welcome because of my support for 
women's health, a woman's right to a legal abortion, LGBT, I am so 
looking forward to the Pope's visit because I feel my Nation needs him 
more than ever before.

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