That’s right, the dean of the Illinois congressional delegation sounds like he’d fit right in with the lefties with whom I recently shared a delicious Thanksgiving dinner.
OK, so he doesn’t come right out and say “fuck Trump,” as one or two people I know may have proclaimed over their stuffing and cranberry sauce.
But he did say that he’s planning to boycott the inauguration—the first one he’ll miss since getting elected to Congress in 1992—and he urges everyone to resist any attempt by Trump to make good on his campaign promises to conduct mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.
I know this because I checked in with the congressman one dark and dreary day just before Thanksgiving, just as, coincidentally, I watched a few teenagers gather in the alley outside my neighbor’s garage to fire up a joint.
And, man, did Gutierrez give me an earful.
“If you believe in anarchy and a clash of American values, you’re going to get a great experiment,” he said of Trump’s election. “Personally, I feel sadness and fear. This is a scary time for our country.”
I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised by his tone. He’s a scrappy counterpuncher—I’ve been on the receiving end of a few of his barbs over the years—and he has a personal stake in the battle with Trump.
For almost 20 years, Gutierrez has been at the forefront of the national movement for immigration reform. He proposed the original Dream Actlegislation back in 2001, and he was the keynote speaker at the 2010 immigration reform march in Washington, D.C.
Trump, on the other hand, vowed to roll back whatever progress Gutierrez and his allies have made, promising to deport all illegal immigrants and ban federal funding to sanctuary cities, like Chicago, that don’t. He also openly denigrated Mexican immigrants, calling them criminals and rapists, and promised to make Mexico pay to build a giant wall along the southern border.
God, just rehashing this shit makes me want to join those kids in the alley.
Anyway, I caught up Gutierrez on a day when he was free from the legislative grind, spending time with friends and family in Puerto Rico.
As always, what followed wasn’t so much an interview as a deluge. I’d ask a question and he’d respond with an answer that evolved into an oration.