Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Chicago, a key player in the
bipartisan push for comprehensive immigration reform, said Tuesday he is
hopeful that Congress will act on the issue in early April after the Easter
recess.
"Immigration is incredibly complicated," Gutierrez told reporters, saying
he did not expect legislation -- or even a bipartisan set of principles -- to
be introduced in the House this week.
He said, instead, that he hopes the process "will move forward quickly"
in the House and Senate when lawmakers return the week of April 8. Key
Republicans have departed from hard-line positions of the past, he noted.
Gutierrez, a Democrat who has focused on immigration since he was elected
to Congress in 1992, said the "moment is politically right" for comprehensive
reform and as more time passes after November's elections, there would be less
urgency and a lower likelihood of success.
He said he would not support a bill that does not feature a pathway for
citizenship. "I would like a clean, clear, quick path to citizenship," he
noted, but "I don't get to write the bill by myself."
In response to a question, Gutierrez said that while he had done all that
he could to stop Rahm Emanuel from becoming mayor of Chicago in 2011, he now
gives him an A grade and admires his work for many reasons, including his aim
to make the city the most immigrant-friendly in the nation.
Gutierrez, who backed former Chicago school board President Gery Chico,
said he had opposed Emanuel because as President Barack Obama's first chief of
staff he was behind an enforcement-only push that led to mass deportations.
The lawmaker said the ongoing deportations of 1,400 people daily
highlighted the need for reforms, noting that even if Congress were to move at
"lightning speed" and Obama were to sign a bill in July, by then 150,000 more
people will have been deported.
He said Emanuel, who lost all the city's Latino wards in 2011, phoned him
after the mayoral election and said: "Luis, let's take an eraser" to move past
differences. While they disagree on some issues, if the mayor runs for
re-election, Gutierrez will campaign for him, the congressman said.
He spoke to reporters at a breakfast hosted by The Christian Science
Monitor.
