Justin Bieber or Selena Gomez: Who's the Immigrant?
By ,
Published January 10, 2017
Illinois Rep. Luis Gutiérrez gave the House of Representatives an impromptu "Pick Out The Immigrant" quiz Wednesday in an effort to voice his opposition to Arizona’s newly-upheld SB1070 "Show Me Your Papers" law.
Coming to the podium alongside a split photo of Fox News’ Geraldo Rivera and former Nightline host Ted Koppel, Gutiérrez said that the law is a problem for every American who believes that people should not be judged by how they look, their accent or the spelling of their name.
"Here are two journalists, Geraldo Rivera and Ted Koppel," Gutiérrez said, gesturing to his prop. "To the untrained eye, we might guess that Geraldo Rivera, for some reason that has nothing to with his looks might not be from America. Geraldo Rivera’s mustache wouldn’t confuse an Arizona law enforcement professional."
Gutiérrez went on the explain that Rivera was born in Brooklyn, New York, while Koppel was born in England after his parents fled Nazi Germany.
We could play this game all day, but the point is simple the idea that any government official can determine who belongs in America and who doesn’t simply by looking at them is completely ridiculous, unfair and un-American.
— Illinois Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D)
The Illinois representative's speech comes as immigration –and Arizona’s controversial law– took center stage in the national debate and presidential election talk.
Monday’s Supreme Court ruling struck down three of the four contested provisions of the Arizona law. The court’s decision prohibits Arizona from making it a state crime for undocumented immigrants to reside in the state or seek work there, and invalidates a provision that would have given police the power to arrest those suspected of residing in the country illegally.
The ruling, however, upheld what many argue is the most controversial section: the so-called Show Me Your Papers provision. The provision instructs police officers to check the immigration status of those they stop or arrest for other crimes if they have reason to suspect the person is residing in the country illegally.
Following the ruling both sides of the political spectrum hailed the Supreme Court’s ruling as a victory, with President Barack Obama saying that he was “pleased that the Supreme Court has struck down key provisions of Arizona's immigration law.”
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer called the decision a victory for the rule of law.
"After more than two years of legal challenges, the heart of SB 1070 can now be implemented in accordance with the U.S. Constitution," she said.
Despite both sides claiming victory, many people –Gutiérrez among them– are unhappy with the decision to uphold the Show Me Your Papers provision.
In his next set of pictures, Gutiérrez showed photos of entertainers Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber for his “young C-SPAN” viewers.
"I’m sure Justin helped Gomez learn all about American customs and feel more at home in her adopted country," he said."Oh wait a minute, I’m sorry because I’m not a trained Arizona official I somehow got that backwards. Actually Ms. Gomez of Texas has helped Mr. Bieber of Canada learn about his adopted country."
"Justin when you perform in Phoenix, remember to bring your papers," Gutiérrez added.
Gutiérrez continued by showing facing basketball players Tony Parker and Jeremy Lin and Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Antonin Scalia as more examples.
"We could play this game all day, but the point is simple: The idea that any government official can determine who belongs in America and who doesn’t simply by looking at them is completely ridiculous, unfair and un-American," he said.
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