A Growing Movement Standing Up to Fear, Hate

Editor’s Note: On March 9^th on the floor of the House of Representatives, Rep. Luis V. Gutiérrez (D-IL) discussed the overwhelmingly successful town hall event he held in the Avondale neighborhood of Chicago recently and offered lessons on what this says about the national resistance to the Trump Administration’s agenda. Update: On March 13^th, Rep. Gutiérrez along with immigrant rights supporters were arrested and briefly detained after staging a sit-in following a meeting with ICE officials in Chicago.

There is no doubt in my mind that the resistance to this President and his policies is growing in America’s heartland.

If the 1,200 people who came to my town hall in Chicago last week are any indication, there is a movement in the United States that is standing up to the fear, the racism, the lies and the divisiveness that comes from the President, his people and his Twitter account every single day.

The Logandale School auditorium and gym was packed.

No, not like the National Mall on Inauguration day, with wide open spaces and the President’s imaginary crowd of 1.5 million people.

No. My town hall was actually packed, like the Mall on the day after inauguration for the Women’s March. And it was a diverse crowd of people who care about America and defending their country.

It was overwhelming. We had Ahmed Rehab, the inspirational leader of CAIR-Chicago talking about what was going on in Chicago to resist the President’s new and unimproved ban on refugees and Muslims.

He was joined by Equality Illinois, Planned Parenthood of Illinois and the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization talking about how the people of Chicago are coming together to resist the President’s attacks on women’s health, on LGBTQ rights, on public schools and education, on women’s rights, and on the environment.

It was the intersection between all of the communities and issues that are under attack by President Trump and co-President Bannon.

This town hall was the mother of all intersectionality events – right there in Chicago in America’s heartland.

No, they were not paid activists. They were ordinary people trying to get answers and defend their community against an unprecedented threat coming from the White House and Republicans in Congress.

For more than an hour I answered questions and then I stayed in the parking lot for another hour and talked with people who still had questions.

And some were heartbreaking. A public school teacher I have known for years asked me how she can help her students in the City of Chicago. Her kids are being kept out of school or are losing sleep or displaying signs of depression because of the fear they have that their parents will be deported. She wants to comfort them, but the reality is she cannot.

Individuals asked me how they can protect families who are terrified that they will get deported.

Recently, a mother I have known for years, who has a stay of deportation and been regularly reporting to ICE officials for years was told she is being deported. She has a US citizen husband and 4 US citizen children and she has complied with the law and reported to authorities only to be told that under Trump, the rules have changed and she is now a top priority for deportation. Not because she should be deported, but because she can be deported.

This fear is having an impact on families and children.

But what came through to me at the town hall meeting is that families, vulnerable immigrants and millions of children with a birthright to live as Americans – they are not alone. There are thousands and thousands of allies who are joining together to defend families in Chicago and everywhere else.

At the town hall, I appealed for help because in the very same room on this coming, my office is holding a citizenship workshop.

I asked those who already have citizenship to come help those who are applying for citizenship, and hundreds of hands went up saying they will help.

We scheduled the citizenship workshop because we are unable to satisfy my constituents’ huge demand for citizenship information. Some days we have lines out the door at my office on Fullerton Avenue.

So all day Saturday, we will have a small army of Family Defenders trained in citizenship helping their neighbors pursue naturalization.

Just as you see the school packed with voters and constituents, you will see the room packed with people applying for citizenship and packed with Americans there to help them.

That is what Chicago is all about and that is what the heartland is all about and that is what America is all about, Mr. President.

Women in hijabs and women in pink hats are standing together to fight attacks on Muslims and attacks on women’s health.

Environmental activists are joining men and women who fly the rainbow flag of the LGBTQ community to resist the President’s agenda.

The entire community will stand together as the mass deportation wave becomes a day to day reality in our communities and the message is clear. If you come for one of us, you have to go through all of us.

My constituents demanded I be a wrench in Trump’s cruel agenda and I will not disappointment them.

Rep. Gutiérrez is in his 13th term representing the Fourth District of Illinois. He is a Member of the Judiciary Committee and is the Chair of the Immigration Task Force of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.