Gutierrez, Rev. Lozano prepare for “reign of terror” on Black and Hispanic immigrants
Lozano to hold virtual services
By Chinta Strausberg
In preparation for a “reign of terror” against Hispanic and Black immigrants by the Trump administration, former Congressman Luis Gutierrez and Rev. Emma Lozano said they have a counter plan of action to protect their people.
In an exclusive interview with the Chicago Crusader late Monday, they said their action plan will prevent unfair mass deportations including in Chicago being “ground zero,” according to Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, who said “Chicago is in trouble because your mayor sucks and your governor sucks.”
Homan vowed to prosecute Mayor Brandon Johnson if he impedes the Trump’s mass deportation plan. The mayor vowed to protect Chicagoans from the wrath of the Trump administration.
And Trump has vowed to end the policy restricting ICE arrests at churches and schools that long have been sanctuaries for undocumented immigrants.
Gutierrez and Lozano, who is vice president of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and pastor of the Lincoln United Methodist Church, said the fear Trump’s vow to rescind the 14th Amendment which defines U.S. citizenship.
That Amendment states that “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
The Amendment makes clear that, “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.”
But this didn’t apply to Blacks in America; that is, according to the infamous Supreme Court’s 1857 Dred Scott decision where Chief Justice Roger Taney wrote that a Black man, even if born free, could not claim rights of citizenship under the federal constitution.
And it didn’t apply to Hispanics in 1929 and in 1954, according to Gutierrez. “It’s happened twice before in the last 100 years 1929 and 1954. Why won’t it happen again? They’re coming for us,” he said.
He referred to the Undesirable Aliens Act of 1929, the Blease’s Law, that criminalized border crossing and limited the rights and set quotas of Mexican immigrants entering the U.S. In 1954, more the U.S. deported over 1 million Hispanics during the recession under the supervision of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Trump’s wife, Melania, is an immigrant,” Gutierrez said. “She got a visa for being exceptional. Those visas were created the Eisenstein’s of the world, not for beauty queens, but for people who bring a certain talent not for more beauty queens and models.”
Fearing a third wave of mass deportations, Lozano said Trump is coming into the White House “as a felon” but the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Trump having immunity for “official act” being carried out by the president.
“We need to stand up and protect our community,” Gutierrez said. “We cannot normalize this kind of terror on a community of people most of whom have been here for decades
Not waiting for the Trump administration to make good its cultural and racial attack to happen, Gutierrez and Lozano are preparing for an impending immigration “reign of terror” against brown and Black immigrants under the Trump administration.
In particular, Trump’s vow to end the policy restricting ICE arrests of immigrants at schools and churches has Rev. Lozano vowing to hold virtual church services to avoid what happened to her and her late husband, Rev. Walter “Slim” Coleman, who from August 15, 2006-August 16, 2007, allowed Elvira Arellano, an illegal immigrant, and her 8-year-old son, Saul, to take sanctuary in their Adalberto United Methodist church. When Arellano decided to leave the church to speak on immigration reform, she was arrested and deported to Mexico separated from her son.
Now 17 years later, Lozano and Gutierrez are gearing up for yet another massive fight against an anti-government attack on their people.
Gutierrez and Lozano believe Trump has targeted their crackdown on immigrants because America is becoming more Black and brown which they say threatens their level of control and privileges as a white majority.
Making it clear, Gutierrez said Trump “even gave his son’s (Donald Trump, Jr.’s) ex-girlfriend, Kimberly an ambassadorship to Greece. “Wow, what a great country. What a great family,” said Gutierrez.
“So, for him family is family, but for the rest of us is division and fear. That why our families are scared. That is what our families are living under, but we are going to fight back.
“We’re going to educate them and make sure they don’t sign away their rights. We’re going to make sure when someone knocks on their door and they don’t have a warrant, that they don’t open that door.
“We’re going to teach our community how to protect ourselves,” vowed Gutierrez.
Saying the Trump administration has a “vast army” and with that resources Gutierrez said, “He’s going to call for a national emergency and give himself emergency powers because he says there are governors and mayors who are obstructionists.”
“Thank God there are governors and mayors” who aren’t going to go along with Trump, Gutierrez said.
Asked his thoughts on Trump vowing to end the right to citizenship for babies born in the U.S. to undocumented parents, 71-years-old Rev. Lozano said, “My father was undocumented.” She was born in Texas and grew up in Chicago since the age of four. “Trump says even if one of your parents is undocumented, you are no longer a citizen of this country. So, what would be my country?”
Lozano said Trump’s vengeance against immigrants comes from “his fear that the United States is becoming brown and Black and the majority people of color and that is what they are frightened of and their losing their control of running the country.”
Gutierrez referred to Trump’s 6-3 Supreme Court that has “taken a woman’s reproductive rights away and are debilitating voting and civil rights.
“We should be fearful of the Supreme Court because the Constitution is clear that the 14th Amendment those who are born in the United States and our national territories are citizens of the U.S.,” said Gutierrez.
“There are 40 million American citizen children whose parents are not citizens of the U.S. They are undocumented. They had the legal status. Those are the ones Trump’s coming for the parents of American citizen children.
“Then he wants to revoke their right of citizenship of being born in America. We know why they want to revoke that because they know that the majority of people who are undocumented” are Black and brown. He said it will affect a Haitian and Mexican communities of color by taking away birthright citizenship.
Gutierrez said they are also asking the Canadian and Mexican governments to allow South Korean, Guatemalan, Haitian dreamers to go into Canada and Mexico for one day.
And when they come back the next day to have their passports stamped with a legal entry so they can find a legal pathway to a Green Card and to not have to live in fear once again.”
He said when Trump was in office, he revoked the Deferred Action for childhood Arrivals (DACA). He lost in a 5-4 Supreme Court vote. “It’s a different Supreme Court today,” he said referring to Trump’s appointment of three of the justices when he was in office.
Gutierrez said he has undocumented people in his family as are many others and that the government knows who and where undocumented people are living.
Saying Hispanic immigrants are working, making their beds, picking their vegetables and fruits…” doing a lot of the hard work,’ and that Trump’s vow to deport millions of Hispanics will “blow a whole” in the national budget.
Gutierrez referred to the pandemic when he cited statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention saying Hispanics were at a higher risk for hospitalizations during Covid-19 than other racial or ethnic group in America. Yet, he said, they worked.
Gutierrez referred to September 19, 2021, when whip-yielding, horseback riding Border Patrol agents chased Haitian immigrants along the Texas-Mexico border decried by African Americans across the nation and claims of racism. He said Haitians were treated unfairly and that he, along with the Congressional Black Caucus, will be working to prevent a “reign of terror” on Black and brown people in America.
