Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) spent time on the House floor today speaking about “Obama Derangement Syndrome,” defined by Dana Milbank of the Washington Post as an affliction in which “the president’s opponents are so determined to thwart him that they will reverse long-held views if they believe it will weaken his stature.”
According to Gutierrez, House Republicans are currently suffering from a particularly “aggressive fact-resistant strain” of this syndrome, in which they continue to insist that President Obama is not enforcing the nation’s immigration laws — when in fact he is under fire for enforcing them too harshly.
To make his point, Rep. Gutierrez offered the House chamber a pop quiz on immigration and enforcement. Read a transcript of his remarks below or watch the video:
Here we have the last three Presidents of the United States, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
Mr. Speaker, let’s test our knowledge of how much or how little they have enforced the immigration laws of the United States during their terms.
Question One.
Which President deported a population slightly larger than the population of the entire State of Nebraska?
With almost 2 million people deported so far, Barack Obama has deported more people than those that live in the entire State of Nebraska.
President Obama gets first place, if you can call it that. So I will put a gold star next to his picture.
Question Two.
Who expanded immigration enforcement by local law enforcement by 100 fold?
One of these Presidents expanded the Secure Communities program for deporting immigrants who are booked into local jails from 31 jurisdictions to more than 3000 jurisdictions.
And that was? …President Barack Obama.
He gets another dubious Gold Star.
For Question Three, let’s go to ‘boots on the ground,’ where the immigration issue seems to begin and end for many Republicans.
Who spent more on immigration enforcement than all other criminal federal law enforcement combined?
Well, if you guessed Barack Obama you’d be right.
His almost $18 billion is $3.5 more than we spend on the FBI, ATF, DEA, Secret Service – all of them – combined.
Another Gold Star.
And Question Four: what crimes are the most prosecuted crimes in Federal court? More than kidnapping, murder, counterfeiting, or political corruption?
Well, under President Obama, being in the United States illegally is the number one prosecuted federal misdemeanor and reentering the country illegally is the number one prosecuted felony.
Another Gold Star.
Finally, for Question Five, we get to detention. Which of these Presidents put more than 420,000 people in detention in just one single year of his presidency – meaning incarceration in a private or government jail or other facility?
President Obama has detained more immigrants in jails, prisons and detention facilities than any other President.
That is five for five. Five stars — the highest rank we give out — and it goes to the ‘Deporter in Chief’—President Barack Obama.
But because Obama Derangement Syndrome is so fact-resistant, I am not optimistic that I have convinced you.
Tell that to the estimated 5,100 U.S. children placed in foster care because their mom or dad was deported.
Mr. Speaker, let me be clear.
The immigrant community is organized and will continue to pressure Republicans and the President until this unprecedented wave of deportations ends.
Republicans can either be participants in how this country advances more sensible immigration policies or they can simply sit on the sidelines while the President does it with his ‘phone and pen.’
And secondly, if we pass immigration reform in this body today, most of the new reforms would take about two years or more to take effect. Therefore the President who will enforce any new system will not be this President, who you say you cannot trust to enforce the law.
In fact, if Republicans continue to insist on making immigration reform a football in their game against the current President, they are all but guaranteeing that the President in two years will not be a Member of their party and could well be the wife of one of these three men.
Watch the video:
