HispanicBusiness

WASHINGTON, July 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Congressman Luis V. Gutierrez (IL-04) will deliver the Democratic Hispanic Radio Address this Saturday, July 24, 2004. Below is the English translation of his address.

The sound of Congressman Gutierrez' address can be obtained through your local Univision Radio affiliates, Radio Formula, Radio Bilingue, Latino Broadcasting Corporation affiliates, or CNN en Espanol after 11:06 a.m. Eastern Time on Saturday, July 24, 2004.

The embargoed sound can also be obtained at: http://democraticleader.house.gov/spanish072404.mp3 in MP3 format

(English transcript below) Democratic Hispanic Radio Address Congressman Luis V. Gutierrez Air Date: Saturday, July 24, 2004

"Good Morning. I am Congressman Luis V. Gutierrez from Illinois, chairman of the Democratic Caucus Immigration Task Force.

"It has been seven months since President Bush first spoke about immigration and promised us reform, and it is clear from his lack of action that he broke his promise to our community and our country.

"The President has allowed anti-immigrant extremists to take control of his party's immigration agenda and to promote mean-spirited, misguided, and malicious anti-immigrant policies.

"Rather than pushing for real reform, we have seen House Republicans pushing to turn already overworked and overburdened local law enforcement officers and hospital workers into federal immigration agents.

"Rather than protecting our borders, this Administration has decided to protect us from Windex-wielding cleaning ladies taking their children to school, or shopping for their families, hundreds of miles away from the border and deep in Latino communities.

"Rather than allowing Congress to vote on bipartisan legislation that would provide hardworking immigrant students the opportunity to go to college, this Administration has allowed the most extreme factions of its party to block even a vote on the most modest steps toward reform.

"And when you have a Senate Majority Leader, who at the request of the Administration has consistently blocked bipartisan legislation designed to provide legal residency to farm workers, who have suffered and have contributed to our economy so much; we must commit ourselves to stopping these anti-immigrant policies.

"We deserve better. Because America, as it has for generation after generation, depends on our hard-working immigrants, and America deserves an immigration policy as dependable as they are.

"Democrats will continue to fight to achieve just that. And we will continue to build support for our comprehensive immigration reform bill, the SOLVE Act.

"This is Congressman Luis V. Gutierrez from Chicago, Illinois. Thanks for listening." Office of House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi

Web site: http://democraticleader.house.gov/