Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., said Friday he won’t be attending the inauguration of President-elect Trump in January, because of his plan to boost enforcement of U.S. immigration laws.
“I’m not going to this inauguration, I can’t go to this inauguration, because he continues to spew hatred, bigotry and prejudice even after he said he was going to bring us all together,” Gutierrez said on CNN.
“But he’s not,” he added. “He continues to spew this kind of … hatred. So I’m not going to be there.”
He did say, however, that he would be in Washington on Inauguration Day to march with people who will be there protesting Trump’s presidency.
Gutierrez, who has supported President Obama’s effort to allow illegal immigrants to stay and work in the U.S., said young immigrants are “really afraid” of the incoming Trump administration.
“They’re afraid that somebody’s going to knock on their door,” he added.
Gutierrez said hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants have registered with the Obama administration, and have been told that they are allowed to stay and work in the United States. But he said Trump has promised to reverse that.
“Donald Trump says he’s going after them, that he’s going to revoke DACA and he’s going to take away their freedom in this country,” he said. “And they’re afraid.”
“So guess what?” he said. “I cannot go to the inauguration of a man who’s going to appoint people to the Supreme Court and turn back the clock on women, and turn back the clock on immigrants.”
