Rep. Gutiérrez Endorsement of Hillary Clinton Earns Praise… and Protest

Dec 14, 2015
6:24 PM

This afternoon in Brooklyn at the National Immigrant Integration Conference (NIIC), Rep. Luis Gutiérrez, the Illinois Democrat considered by many to be a leading national voice on immigration, endorsed the presidential candidacy of Hillary Clinton. News that the endorsement would happen today was first reported by BuzzFeed’s Adrian Carrasquillo.

The response to the endorsement, however, was not unanimous among NIIC attendees, as #FreedomGiving supporters unfurled a banner during Clinton’s speech.

There was also reports of other protests.

DRM also referred to the “illegal immigrants” comments Clinton made earlier this fall. She has since said it was a “poor choice of words.”

Despite having an immigration record that many observers have seen as inconsistent, Clinton did share some thoughts about her immigration plan this afternoon, according to the Associated Press: “The former secretary of state said Monday in a speech to the National Immigration Integration Conference in Brooklyn that she wants to give more help to people eligible for citizenship.”

The initial versions of the AP story did not make mention of the protests, although a story by Roque Planas and Elise Foley of the Huffington Post did mention the protests in their story:

Protesters interrupted Clinton three times. Some held a banner asking if she stands with the detained immigrants who launched a hunger strike on Thanksgiving. Others tried to shout over her that her increasingly open stance on immigration is dishonest. All were escorted out of the room.

The banner evoked a response from Clinton, who said the hunger strike should prompt Americans to look critically at immigrant detention and close private detention centers run as for-profit enterprises.