By Jim Tankersley
WASHINGTON -- Most members of Congress focus their tenures on two or three big issues, but for Rep. Luis Gutierrez, for 14 years there has been only one.
Now, as he prepares to retire after eight terms and dozens of failed attempts to even tweak America's immigration laws, the Chicago Democrat finally finds himself tantalizingly close to a career-capping victory -- or to the sort of disappointment that can only come from chasing a dream and falling short.
Gutierrez is a lead House negotiator in the bipartisan attempts to pass immigration reform this year. Perhaps more than any other lawmaker in the discussions, he is subject to the competing tugs of principle and compromise that threaten to derail any deal.
Because for Gutierrez, this is his last chance.
And he is willing to walk away empty-handed.
"The value of getting something done that is not worthy of our immigrants is not anything," he said in an alternatively smiling and table-pounding interview last week. "It's more important to get it done right."
The Senate plans to take up an immigration bill Monday, backed by President Bush and Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), that would tighten border security, create a "guest worker" program for some immigrants and give others a long-term path to U.S. citizenship. It would reshuffle immigration priorities to emphasize education and skills over family connections.
A steep climb
If the bill clears the Senate, it will fall to Gutierrez, a few other Democrats and some newfound Republican allies to craft a plan that could fly in the House, survive a House-Senate conference committee and eventually earn Bush's signature -- a compromise so delicate that many Capitol insiders doubt it can be done.
Until a few years ago, many Republicans doubted Gutierrez was open to compromise at all.
A Chicago native whose parents grew up in Puerto Rico, Gutierrez was an activist and alderman before winning a House seat in the newly drawn -- and Latino-dominated -- 4th District in 1992.
Like most House freshmen, he learnedthat specialization is the best way to stand out. He picked immigration, a relatively minor issue in Congress at the time. His was the first congressional office to host government-sanctioned citizenship workshops, which have served more than 42,000 immigrants.
Ensuing years saw Gutierrez emerge as a "bomb-thrower" on immigration policy -- in the words of a recent Wall Street Journal column -- who pushed to roll back welfare restrictions for immigrants, open channels for naturalization and, since 2001, grant legal status to millions of undocumented workers.
House Democrats and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus tapped Gutierrez to lead their immigration task forces. He was a constant presence at Chicago's immigration gatherings, often flying in from Washington to join news conferences or town hall meetings. He was at the front of the city's massive immigration march last year.
Lacking legislative success
What he doesn't have to show for his efforts is any major legislative success.
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Washington Bureau
Published May 21, 2007
