Luis Gutierrez: Representing Illinois' Fourth District

Media Contact: Rebecca Dreilinger (202) 225-8203

(Washington D.C.) This Saturday, May 9, 2009, U.S. Congressman Luis V. Gutierrez (D-IL) will conclude the first phase of a national effort to document the harm caused to U.S. citizens in the absence of comprehensive immigration reform.

The Family Unity Tour has visited 21 U.S. cities and involved more than 25,000 individuals since January of 2009, and it will return to its city of origin the day before Mother's Day. More than 5,000 people are expected to gather at McCormick Place to call on President Barack Obama to act on his commitment to immigration reform, recalling his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Denver: "Passions fly on immigration, but I don't know anyone who benefits when a mother is separated from her infant child."

"Though we have only just passed the first 100 days of the Obama Administration, it is the 11th hour for our immigrant community, and there is no time to waste," said Rep. Gutierrez. "On Saturday, Chicago's families will come forward to honor their mothers in the most important way — by demanding family unity."

Twenty-five members of Congress have participated in the Family Unity Tour. They are both Democrat and Republican, members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), and House leadership.

Throughout the Family Unity tour, U.S. citizens and their families have filled their community churches to capacity for prayer vigils and town-hall meetings. At each event, U.S. citizens have shared testimony as to how their families have been or risk being torn apart by a broken immigration system. They have signed thousands of petitions to President Obama, asking him to enact comprehensive immigration reform that will keep their families together. Every event has been held at a church to place the immigration crisis in its moral context. Participants came from all religious backgrounds, including Catholic, Evangelical, Jewish, and many others.

"Through this listening tour, I have been honored and humbled to join people of all faiths from coast to coast who are bearing witness to stories of human crisis caused by our broken immigration system," continued Rep. Gutierrez. "They are parents and children, husbands and wives who have been torn apart by a system that values fear over family values. Through the Family Unity effort, U.S. citizens have raised their voices for a better vision of America, and they have shown Washington that immigration reform is not an abstract policy debate — but a pressing moral crisis. "   

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