Donald Trump is the “number one topic in Latino neighborhoods,” a top Hispanic lawmaker said Wednesday as he warned Republicans to put distance between themselves and the billionaire businessman who is seeking the GOP presidential nomination.
Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez, an Illinois Democrat who has been pushing for legalization of illegal immigrants, contrasted Mr. Trump’s call for a get-tough approach with Pope Francis, who he called “the anti-Trump.”
“I, like a lot of my Democratic colleagues and a lot of my Catholic colleagues — and frankly the majority of Americans of all faiths and political stripes across the nation — are very much looking forward to the pope’s visit and the pope’s words because our nation needs a counter-balance, a counter weight to what has become the ugliest, most xenophobic, most anti-immigration campaign in anyone’s memory,” Mr. Gutierrez said.
Mr. Trump has shot to the top of the GOP presidential field based in large part on his calls for enforcing immigration laws and requiring illegal immigrants to go home before they are allowed to apply for legal status in the U.S.
He has also called for an end to automatic citizenship for children born in the U.S. to illegal immigrant mothers, and said he would triple the number of interior enforcement agents to go after businesses and illegal immigrants here.
Democrats have said those proposals are seen by Hispanics as anti-immigrant and anti-Latino, and predicted Republicans will pay a political price for Mr. Trump’s rhetoric.
Mr. Trump, for his part, has predicted he will do well among Hispanic voters.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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