Hayworth, Gutierrez square off over immigration law

Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) and former Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-Ariz.) squared off Sunday over Arizona’s new immigration law.

The state law, just signed into law last week, would allow state
police to stop suspected illegal immigrants and ask for proof of U.S.
citizenship. The law has boosted the immigration reform debate back
onto the national level with both sides calling for the federal
government to step in with new legislation.

Gutierrez has been one of the more vocal advocates in Congress in
pushing for a comprehensive immigration reform bill. He has criticized
the Arizona law, saying it unfairly targets Hispanics.

“The law
is discriminatory,” Gutierrez said on CBS’s “Face The Nation.” “We are
not criminals. We come here to sweat and toil and work hard … In the
end, we love this country.”

Hayworth, who is running in the Senate Republican primary against
Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) this election, defended the law, saying he
believed it was in line with federal laws. He also said critics of the
law have used “overblown rhetoric” in describing it.

“It has been a massive disinformation campaign and a distortion,”
Hayworth said, and the read a provision of the law out loud. “The key
phrase here is protecting ‘the civil rights of all persons.’ What we
are getting here is distortion.”

Hayworth said the federal government must get more involved in
securing the borders first to not allow illegal immigrants into the
United States. “Border security is national security,” he said.

The
former Arizona lawmaker said Gutierrez favors amnesty for illegal
immigrants but the Illinois Democrat said that was not the case.
Gutierrez said he believed the federal government should force illegal
immigrants to pay a fine and learn English in order to pay
their way into the system.

“People just want to think if you pass harsh laws, the problem is going to go away. It’s not going happen,” Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez
also said he favored an identification program for immigrants and that
he himself would submit his own DNA to prove he was in the United
States legally.