This Latino congressman should have asked Santa for a new set of manners
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SAN DIEGO -- Ever wonder what members of Congress get for Christmas?
I hope that Luis Gutierrez got a new set of manners. Because, based on how he conducted himself at a hearing a few days before the holiday, he doesn't have any.
The Democratic representative from Chicago played Scrooge during a grilling of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen over the administration's treatment of refugees.
For what it's worth, as a Mexican-American, I'm usually more in sync with Gutierrez than Nielsen. About a decade ago, I applauded when the congressman got arrested outside the White House protesting President Obama's deportation juggernaut and then toured immigrant communities devastated by the administration's enforcement policies. And I'm aghast that Nielsen -- who's had a rocky relationship with President Trump -- responded to the recent and tragic deaths of young children in Border Patrol custody by coldly citing the "consequences" of parents taking their kids across the U.S.-Mexico border.
But this isn't about politics. It's about politeness. And, as a journalist, it's my job to call Gutierrez on the carpet for what was really a disgraceful performance.
At best, these kinds of exchanges between political leaders should make you think. This one will make you wince.
Gutierrez began a six-minute screed by saying that Nielsen had come before the House Judiciary Committee to appear "tough and remorseless" just in time for Christmas. He then referenced her shaky tenure at the Homeland Security Department and snarked that she might not have a job in a few weeks.
Then he catapulted into a wider attack on the administration, which he claimed had set a new standard for lying to the American people about immigration.
That was saying something given how deceitful the Obama administration was on the subject. Like when Obama claimed that most of the people being deported were "gangbangers" and other criminals, only to be proven wrong.
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