Latino voters played a big role in President Barack Obama's re-election, and Rep. Luis Gutierrez said other politicians should take note.
"If you treat the least among us, the most vulnerable among us, the immigrant community that's striving to make America their home, we will reject your campaign outright," he said Wednesday at a press conference with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
Gutierrez also warned Democrats not to take their votes for granted and urged both parties to roll up their sleeves and get to work.
President Obama received 75 percent of the Latino vote, according to impreMedia/Latino Decisions exit polls, thus obtaining the highest number of Latino voters; President Clinton received about 72 percent in 1996.
ICIRR officials said the group's New Americans Democracy Project (NADP) registered a record number of 26,498 new immigrant voters, 58 percent in the City of Chicago and 42 percent in the suburbs.
The organization said it planned to contact 159,885 Latino, Asian and Middle Eastern voters during Early Voting and on Election Day through door knocks, phone calls and mailings.
NBCLatino.com: We Voted. Now Let's Get to Work
