[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 169 (Tuesday, November 17, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H8246-H8247]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   REACTING TO THE TERRORIST ATTACKS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Gutierrez) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GUTIERREZ. Mr. Speaker, we are shocked, horrified, and deeply 
saddened by the news coming from Paris. As a member of the Permanent 
Select Committee on Intelligence, I know there is much to fear, both 
for our allies and for us.
  But in light of the attacks on our ally France last Friday, I urge my 
colleagues to keep a cool head and not to react exactly the way that 
ISIS and other terrorists hope we do, with fear, with chaos, and with 
lashing out. But, sadly, that is what we have already seen Republican 
Governors, elected leaders, candidates, and media figures do.
  I have been here long enough to know a thing or two about 
opportunism. Maybe it is too much to resist when you are one of 15 
candidates for President of the United States. Politicians, pundits, 
and celebrities will be tempted to say whatever they can to get the 
news cameras pointed at them.
  The Governor of Illinois, my home State, could not resist saying our 
State was closed to Syrians fleeing the terror of ISIS and the Assad 
regime. The Governor of Louisiana, the son of immigrants, running for 
President of the United States, a nation of immigrants, said ``no'' to 
refugees. The Governors of a dozen other States did so, too. A Senator 
whose parents came as refugees from Cuba fleeing there has said ``no,'' 
too.
  This is despicable and cowardly and precisely the kind of reaction 
ISIS wanted. ISIS could not have written a better script. The free 
people of the world are turning their backs on people seeking safety 
and freedom. When we sent Jews back to Germany and when we sent 
Japanese to internment camps, we regretted it, and we will regret this 
as well.
  We have had candidates actually say that refugees seeking safety in 
the strongest nation in the world must first pass a test to prove they 
are from an acceptable religion. In the United States of America they 
said this. In the 21st century. An acceptable religion in America.
  Now, of course, the Governors of Illinois, Texas, and Louisiana, and 
most of the other States that are scared of ISIS, are Republican. 
Because it is a Federal matter, they are overstepping their powers with 
executive orders because they cannot actually stop refugees from 
resettling in their States, and they know it. How sad.

                              {time}  1015

  Instead, they have instructed State agencies not to assist people 
fleeing terror. We are a better country than that.
  No matter how scared Republican leaders become, we must not abandon 
our commitment to being a nation

[[Page H8247]]

without equal in a world, a nation that does not fear or shy away from 
any challenge. It is our commitment to religious equality and the 
freedom to worship as we please that has made us a great nation. And 
this is no time to abandon that tradition.
  Our bravery, the bravery of our military, and the bravery of our 
commitment to freedom and equality have shown for almost 250 years what 
American exceptionalism is truly all about.
  It is not the time to lose sight of ourselves and say America is too 
weak, that America cannot handle 20,000 or 200,000 refugees fleeing for 
their lives. It is not the time for America to consider raising the 
white flag and say to those waving the black flag: ``Yes, ISIS, you are 
right. We dislike and fear Muslims, and we do not care if you perish or 
not.''
  A lot of us love this country too much to see it abandon core 
principles and values because religious extremists commit acts of 
terror designed precisely to terrorize us.
  On Thursday, the Immigration Subcommittee will hold a hearing on 
refugees from Syria and the Middle East, as well it should, but you can 
already imagine what we will hear. Republicans will most likely raise 
fears that Muslim terrorists disguised as refugees would somehow pass 
exhaustive criminal background checks because they have been lying in 
wait in those camps overseas for years on the slim chance they could do 
damage to America. They will raise suspicions, instill fear of Muslims, 
maybe even fear of a President they have been saying is a Muslim, and 
it will probably be a pretty sad display.
  Let us as legislators, leaders, and patriots rise above petty 
politics, rise above sectarian fears, and rise above the underlying 
layer of xenophobia that often surfaces in this country at moments like 
this throughout our history. And let us maintain America's commitment 
to being a beacon of hope for those fleeing oppression, violence, and 
intolerance.
  A haven for the religiously persecuted, whether they are Buddhists 
from Tibet, Christians from Iran, or pilgrims from Europe, is who we 
are. We are a nation that lives by the motto: ``Out of many, one.'' We 
will not run in fear from that motto today or any day. This is America.

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