[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 40 (Wednesday, March 7, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H1446]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    BLOCKING IMMIGRATION LEGISLATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Gutierrez) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GUTIERREZ. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, I talked about immigrants 
Donald Trump doesn't really care for, like the Dreamers who were raised 
in the United States and are now vulnerable to deportation. Then there 
are the refugees from war and religious persecution. He doesn't really 
care for them either.
  Let's see, there are the people from El Salvador, Haiti, or Africa--
the people from shithole countries. Trump would rather deport than 
protect them. And he doesn't want them coming here legally either.
  No, as we all know by now, Trump prefers immigrants from snowhole 
countries like Norway. Yep, you take a look at the Winter Olympics 
leaderboard of the countries that won medals and that is a pretty good 
list of who Trump wants to have here. Norway, check. Canada, great. 
Netherlands, okay. And we better add Russia to that, too.
  President Trump has been blocking any kind of immigrant legislation 
because he will only agree to protect Dreamers from deportation if he 
can eliminate whole categories of legal immigration. And not just any 
immigration, but specifically the programs that are filled with people 
who want to come to the United States legally from Asia, Africa, and 
Latin America.
  He is especially opposed to diversity in our immigration system, and 
among the programs he insists we eliminate is the one most often used 
by immigrants from Africa.
  So Trump's immigration approach is pretty simple: If you are White, 
you are all right. If you are Brown, you are a little lower down. And 
if you are Black, just go back.
  The other group of people Trump is particularly angry about are 
family members of U.S. citizens--yes--and those who are on the path to 
becoming U.S. citizens. He insists that we need to take away the rights 
of U.S. citizens to petition for their family members. Nope, Trump 
thinks U.S. citizens cannot be trusted to petition for their own family 
members, which is kind of strange because he doesn't have to look very 
far to find an immigrant American citizen who petitioned--legally--for 
Melania's parents to come to the United States.
  According to The Washington Post:
  ``The parents of First Lady Melania Trump have become legal permanent 
residents of the United States and are close to obtaining their 
citizenship, according to people familiar with their status. . . .
  ``Immigration experts said''--they--``very likely relied on a family 
reunification process that President Trump has derided as `chain 
migration' and proposed ending in such cases.''
  Remember, the in-laws are from Slovenia, and that country won two 
medals at the Winter Olympics, so I guess they are okay. It is okay, 
apparently.
  Now, let us remember that the First Lady of the United States is here 
in this country because she applied for, and received, an 
``extraordinary ability visa,'' which is often called the Einstein visa 
because we give it to Nobel Prize winners. But I guess we also give the 
Einstein visa to musicians and artists and runway models.
  The First Lady's extraordinary abilities are many, I am sure. Now, I 
want you to recall that one of the issues in Jared Kushner's security 
clearance was that he owes so much money to foreigners, that some 
people might be able to leverage that debt into an application for 
another visa program just for millionaires and fat cats. Yes, in 
America, if you have $1 million, or you look like $1 million, you can 
get a visa. But if you look like a parking attendant or a busboy or a 
field hand or the king of Wakanda, in the eyes of our President, you 
are just not welcome in the United States of America.
  Look, let me break it down from my perspective. This is not the 
country we aspire to be. My mother came from Puerto Rico with a fifth 
grade education, and Puerto Rico has never won a gold medal at the 
Winter Olympics. But guess what? Her daughter--my sister--is a great 
public school teacher and her son is a Member of Congress, and I think 
that is what the American story should always be about. Not special 
treatment, not special programs just for the rich and the beautiful, 
and not, apparently, fast-tracking for the President's family, 
especially when he is going after so many other people's families who 
look just like mine.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from 
engaging in profanity in debate.
  Members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities toward 
the President.

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