On August 15, the first of perhaps a million or more people who qualify for the DREAM Act will begin stepping forward to apply and pay fees for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a form of temporary deportation relief for undocumented immigrants who meet certain criteria. Each...

Today's New York Times editorial, "A Start on the Dream," eloquently makes a point I have been trying to make to the President of the United States since at least December 2010. Namely, that as Chief Executive, President Obama has extraordinary leeway under our current immigration laws to...

Word is leaking from the Senate that Republicans, facing stiff and well-deserved opposition from most Hispanic voters, are crafting a bill similar to but not nearly as good as the DREAM Act, a bill to legalize the immigration status of young people who grew up in the United States but...

Seeing this crop of Republican presidential candidates pander for Latino votes is like watching some teenage boys learn to dance. It is awkward and embarrassing with plenty of missteps. And the last thing in the world they want is for one of their friends to see them do it. That...

On Tuesday morning, I am going to see for myself. I'm flying to Charlotte, North Carolina, to attend the first hearing in the deportation case against Gabino Sanchez, a husband and father of two U.S. citizens who is facing deportation after more than a dozen years living and working peacefully...

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, in his Roll Call op-ed ("President Is Ignoring Immigration Laws," Feb. 6), argues that a policy of deporting serious criminals instead of parents, military families and students attending college is bad for the country. Once again the Republicans are on the...

A young mother in Alabama, 19, was driving down the street with her infant son when local police stopped her for failure to turn on her headlights. The officers discovered she had no driver's license and she was taken to the station.

That was on a Monday. Her son,...

When the Colombia Free Trade Agreement vote comes up in the House this Wednesday, I will ask my colleagues not to look to Columbia first when deciding to vote yes or no. I believe there are other places in the world, some far away, and some close to home, to...

[Note: This article originally appeared at The Guardian's Comment Is Free America with the headline "President Obama's lost pledge to Latinos," on August 1, 2011.]

On Tuesday, July 26, 2011, I was arrested in front of the White House, along with a dozen other...

I am participating in a press conference today with Presente.org and several Puerto Rican leaders that coincides with the president's trip to Puerto Rico on Tuesday. The press conference will include Esmeralda, who has lived in Puerto Rico since she was nine years old and who graduated with...

The following is adapted from a speech by Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez, delivered this morning to the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C.

Two weeks ago I spoke about a serious problem in Puerto Rico. The problem is a systemic effort by the ruling party...

This holiday season in Congress, the Democrats have provided the Republicans with a gift-wrapped opportunity to change their tune on the immigration issue. By bringing the DREAM Act to the floor in both chambers, Democrats have offered up a most sympathetic and deserving cohort of young people for protection from...

In just five short months, on April 20, 2011, we will commemorate the anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion and we will honor the 11 individuals who lost their lives that day. These 11 brothers, fathers, sons, and husbands died because BP's culture of recklessness, a corporate approach...

The following is a statement by Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-IL), who met with President Barack Obama today at the White House to discuss immigration reform and the lame-duck session of Congress.

When I met with the President today, I told him that we need him to join us in...

Democrats suffered devastating losses on Election Day. No way to sugarcoat it, no way to spin it. But choosing the leadership team for Democrats in the House is the first opportunity we have to chart a course back to the majority, so I want a campaign, I want a vote,...

Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-IL) was reelected Tuesday to a tenth term in the U.S. Congress representing the Fourth District of Illinois in Chicago. In the 111th Congress, Rep. Gutierrez is Chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus...

One of the reasons we have not made progress in reforming our immigration system is that one side of the debate thinks of itself as the law and order side and frames those of us who have proposed comprehensive immigration reform as opposed to the rule of law. That shuts...

About a week ago, I announced that I would not run for Mayor of Chicago so that I could devote my full time and attention to my vocation: fighting for immigration reform in the U.S. Congress. My decision not to run was a difficult one. Being Mayor of...

Last Wednesday, the front-page of the New York Times (and news reports all over the country) blared that there is a mass of Latino registered voters who are not particularly motivated to vote this year. The story was based on a Pew Hispanic Center poll and I have spent a...

Almost every day I hear from constituents who are struggling to find work, keep a roof over their heads or pay their medical bills. These daily struggles are commonplace across the country. Now there's another phenomenon that adds insult to injury: in the midst of an economic crisis, employers are...