Congressman Luis Gutiérrez letter to Attorney General Holder

The Committee to Stop FBI Repression sent a delegation to visit congressional offices this week. With the momentum of letters to Attorney General Holder and President Obama in the past month, we hoped we would get support from more legislators.

CSFR had a great delegation, and met with 25 offices in two days. The delegation was very well received by the vast majority, and found the FBI and grand jury repression issue was timely given the Patriot Act provisions coming up for re-authorization and the coming nominations for head of the FBI.

The first letter already came from Congress person Luis Gutiérrez. [Joe Iosbaker](http://www.stopfbi.net/profile/joe-iosbaker) and [Stephanie Weiner](http://www.stopfbi.net/profile/stephanie-weiner) live in the district that Gutiérrez represents.

##Letter from Congressman Gutiérrez to Attorney General Holder

**May 6, 2011**

Dear Mr. Attorney General:

I am writing to express concerns that have been brought to my attention by some of my constituents regarding the FBI raids that occurred in Illinois, Minnesota, and Michigan on September 24, 2010. The individuals targeted in these raids are anti-war, peace and labor activists.

There are serious concerns that these individuals may have been targeted for their participation in First Amendment protected activities and that these raids are an extension of the very activities that were criticized in the recent Department of Justice Inspector General report. In addition, there is significant fear that the targeting of these activists will have a chilling effect on others who only seek to assemble and express themselves as protected under the Constitution.

I know that you share my deep interest in protecting civil rights and civil liberties. While I am aware that you cannot comment on an ongoing FBI investigation, I hope that you will gives these concerns every possible consideration as you move forward.

Sincerely,

Luis V. Gutiérrez
Member of Congress