The latest criticism of Congressman Luis Gutierrez for his outrageous comparison of ICE agents to Nazis comes from the Anti-Defamation League. In an August 14 letter to Gutierrez, the ADL calls upon the congressman to repudiate his “inappropriate and insensitive” remarks.
The ADL goes out of its way to note that it has always been a staunch supporter of immigration reform, but that Gutierrez’s attacks debase the public debate:
As a longtime ally of the Anti-Defamation League on a range of domestic and international issues, I know you are aware of the League’s leadership in pressing for comprehensive immigration reform — and in exposing the virulent and anti-immigrant and xenophobic rhetoric that has emerged as part of the divisive national debate over immigration. Whatever your views o nthe tactics and enforcement methods of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, however, it is highly inappropriate and insensitive to suggest that actions taken by these agents in any way resemenble actions taken by Nazi Gestapo agents in World War II.
The ADL is right. Congressman Gutierrez (as well as Congressman Sam Farr, who parroted Gutierrez’s attacks) should apologize. The nation’s immigration laws do need reform. However, the failure to achieve such reform lies on the shoulders of Congressman Gutierrez and the rest of his colleagues in the U.S. Congress, not upon the men and women at ICE, who have been tasked by Congress itself to enforce these very (outdated) laws.
