Congressman Gutierrez says he left Puerto Rico because of the terrible conditions he found and finding that Puerto Rico wasn't the best option for him or his family.... yet he actively supports Independence for Puerto Rico and uses his position to not only obstruct, but as a vicious watchdog against any attempts from the US citizens of Puerto Rico to gain full citizenship rights.
He should inform the Press and his constituents how very well things have gone for him since he moved back to a State of the Union and became a politician !!
Now Gutierrez calls himself the "champion" of the illegal immigrants and struggles to legalize them with full rights as US citizens, yet he obstructs all of the US Territory of Puerto Rico's US citizens' attempts to get full voting, Congressional Representation, and statehood for our island....
SHAME ON YOU GUTIERREZ !!! YOU ARE an opportunist and a hypocrite ! You obstruct our aspirations to live the American Dream.... but you say you left Puerto Rico because it was not good enough for you ?!!! Or is it because you are prejudiced against us and that is the real reason you want independence for Puerto Rico?
Miriam Ramirez MD
Where was Congressman Gutierrez at 25?
Congressman Gutierrez sits down with Lauren Chooljian for her Year 25 series
Congressman Gutierrez sits down with Lauren Chooljian for her Year 25 series
WBEZ
May 7, 2013
By: Lauren Chooljian
May 7, 2013
By: Lauren Chooljian
Illinois U.S. Congressman Luis Gutierrez has made a name for himself across the nation as one of the most vocal proponents of immigration reform. Gutierrez is a longtime member of the U.S. House of Representatives – he's been serving since 1992. And years before that, he served as alderman of the 26th Ward in Chicago.
So, you’d think, this guy must have been working toward a spot on Capitol Hill all his life.
Wrong.
25-year-old Luis Gutierrez was a 1st, 2nd and 3rd teacher in Puerto Rico. He had followed his then-girlfriend, Soraida, there and eventually married her. The two were making a life for themselves - Soraida was going to school, and Luis was the lone male teacher in a little school out in the mountains. He was paid minimum wage - about $3.25 per hour, he says – which was hardly enough to feed the two of them and get Soraida to school. So, as Gutierrez recalls, he gave what little money he had to Soraida for school and then got creative.
“I remember - it’s probably a violation of the law today, I hope it wasn’t one then, although I’m sure the statute of limitations have run out,” Gutierrez said. “I used to eat with all the children in the school lunch program.”
Gutierrez says he soon realized Puerto Rico wasn’t the best option for him and his wife, so they moved back to Chicago, where he was from originally. After a month or so of fruitless attempts to find a job, Gutierrez decided to get his his chauffeur's license and drive a cab.
Yes, you read that right. Illinois U.S. Congressman Luis Gutierrez, drove a cab when he was 25 years old. “So, for all of those that see the cab driver, remember, it could be a transitional moment in their life, and one day they could be actually adopting and proposing the laws of the nation, that guy in the front seat,” Gutierrez said.
In this interview with WBEZ’s Lauren Chooljian, Gutierrez tells the stories of his 25th year, and explains how that person had not a clue in the world that he’d wind up in elected politics. He also discusses how his personality has changed over the years, and what parts of his 25-year-old self had to change in order to be the lawmaker he is today.
MORE: http://www.wbez.org/sections/lifestyle/where-was-congressman-gutierrez-25-107062
________________________________________________________________
So, you’d think, this guy must have been working toward a spot on Capitol Hill all his life.
Wrong.
25-year-old Luis Gutierrez was a 1st, 2nd and 3rd teacher in Puerto Rico. He had followed his then-girlfriend, Soraida, there and eventually married her. The two were making a life for themselves - Soraida was going to school, and Luis was the lone male teacher in a little school out in the mountains. He was paid minimum wage - about $3.25 per hour, he says – which was hardly enough to feed the two of them and get Soraida to school. So, as Gutierrez recalls, he gave what little money he had to Soraida for school and then got creative.
“I remember - it’s probably a violation of the law today, I hope it wasn’t one then, although I’m sure the statute of limitations have run out,” Gutierrez said. “I used to eat with all the children in the school lunch program.”
Gutierrez says he soon realized Puerto Rico wasn’t the best option for him and his wife, so they moved back to Chicago, where he was from originally. After a month or so of fruitless attempts to find a job, Gutierrez decided to get his his chauffeur's license and drive a cab.
Yes, you read that right. Illinois U.S. Congressman Luis Gutierrez, drove a cab when he was 25 years old. “So, for all of those that see the cab driver, remember, it could be a transitional moment in their life, and one day they could be actually adopting and proposing the laws of the nation, that guy in the front seat,” Gutierrez said.
In this interview with WBEZ’s Lauren Chooljian, Gutierrez tells the stories of his 25th year, and explains how that person had not a clue in the world that he’d wind up in elected politics. He also discusses how his personality has changed over the years, and what parts of his 25-year-old self had to change in order to be the lawmaker he is today.
MORE: http://www.wbez.org/sections/lifestyle/where-was-congressman-gutierrez-25-107062
________________________________________________________________
Puerto Rico
Gutiérrez has been an outspoken advocate for human and civil rights of the Puerto Rican people. In the late 1990s and the 2000s he was a leader in the Vieques movement, which sought to stop the United States military from using the inhabited island as a bomb testing ground. In May 2000 Gutiérrez was one of nearly two-hundred arrested for refusing to leave the natural habitat the US military wished to continue using as a bombing range.[36]
In 2011 Gutiérrez came out against human rights abuses occurring on the island – specifically police brutality perpetrated against University of Puerto Rico students critical of the island's government and a law passed by the Fortuño government that sought to limit student's freedom of speech. Gutiérrez also spoke out against a proposed pipeline which would degrade the island's lush tropical habitat and potentially put residents living near the proposed pipeline in danger.[37][38]
MORE: DEMOCRAT CONGRESSMAN LUIS GUTIERREZ ARRESTED AGAIN OUTSIDE WHITE HOUSE DURING DREAM ACT RALLY Jul 26, 2011
Forty-six years after Lolita Lebrón and fellow Puerto Rican nationalists shot up the House of Representatives, Lebrón, along with Puerto Rican members of Congress Luis Gutiérrez and Nydia Velázquez, were arrested for an act of nonviolent resistance against the federal government. On May 4, 300 US Marshals and FBI agents cleared about 200 demonstrators from a Navy bombing range on the embattled island of Vieques. “Puerto Rico has been invaded again,” said New York City Councilman José Rivera as he was led away. For Puerto Ricans on the island and the mainland, this was just another display of nineteenth-century gunboat diplomacy.
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