Javier writes: "Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus were reportedly told they could not attend a meeting about deportations and raids with Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Thomas Homan Thursday."
Representative Luis V. Gutierrez, a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. (photo: AP)
17 February 17
embers of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus were reportedly told they could not attend a meeting about deportations and raids with Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Thomas Homan Thursday.
The snub came after ICE reportedly canceled another planned meeting with the caucus earlier this week. ICE said the meeting was canceled because it had grown too large and wasn’t bipartisan. Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-CA) called the cancellation of Tuesday’s meeting “bullshit.”
Ten Democrats were allowed to attend Thursday’s meeting, including Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM), the current chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Politico reported.
.@HispanicCaucus called for a meeting w/@ICEgov then disrespected when it was cancelled, rescheduled and all CHC members were not invited. pic.twitter.com/tsLPNCshIV
— Hispanic Caucus (@HispanicCaucus) February 16, 2017
Among the members kept out were Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-IL), who has a long history of criticizing deportation policies and advocating on behalf of the undocumented, and Rep. Ruben Kihuen (D-NV), who was born in Mexico and has said he lived in the U.S. with an expired visa for a period of time before becoming a citizen.
Speaking to reporters, Gutierrez expressed anger about what had happened.
“I’ve been here 25 years and I’ve never been told by the Speaker of the House that I can’t attend a meeting I’ve requested,” he fumed.
I was asked to leave the meeting with #ICE by @SpeakerRyan staff. Never before in 20 plus years has this happened. pic.twitter.com/Vbe0BnsZNK
— Luis V. Gutierrez (@RepGutierrez) February 16, 2017
It's a shame that @SpeakerRyan refuses to let @HispanicCaucus & me into meeting with @ICEgov. All we want is answers for our constituents. https://t.co/wIbIgTAlMY
— Rep. Ruben J. Kihuen (@RepKihuen) February 16, 2017
“The speaker’s office organized a small bipartisan briefing that was, at the request of DHS, limited to members with jurisdictional interests in immigration enforcement,” a spokesperson for Speaker of the House Paul Ryan told the Huffington Post. “Members of the CHC expressed interest in attending, and to accommodate the request, we welcomed the chair of the CHC to join on behalf of the other members.”