Congressman: Police should arrest undocumented immigrants attending State of the Union
WASHINGTON (WCMH/AP) – A Congressman from Arizona is asking the U.S. Capitol Police to arrest any undocumented immigrants attending Tuesday’s State of the Union address.
In a series of tweets Tuesday afternoon, Rep. Paul Gosar said he contacted Attorney General Jeff Sessions and U.S. Capitol Police and asked that they consider checking identification of everyone attending President Trump’s speech. He called for the arrest of ‘any illegal aliens in attendance.’
He also called for the arrest of anyone using fraudulent social security numbers and identification to pass through security.
“Of all the places where the Rule of Law needs to be enforced, it should be in the hallowed halls of Congress. Any illegal aliens attempting to go through security, under any pretext of invitation or otherwise, should be arrested and deported,” said Congressman Gosar.
“How many Republican members of the House and Senate will condemn this attempt to punish Dreamers who were brought to this country as kids?” asked Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin. Durbin has invited Dreamer and medical student Cesar Montelongo to be his guest at the State of the Union.
President Trump is expected to address immigration and DACA during tonight’s State of the Union Address.
Republicans and Democrats are wrestling with the future of some 700,000 young immigrants living in the United States illegally. Trump has vowed to protect the so-called Dreamers from deportation, but is also calling for changes to legal immigration that are controversial with both parties.
“We’re going to get something done, we hope bipartisan,” Trump told reporters Monday, before giving his speech a practice run-through in the White House map room. “The Republicans really don’t have the votes to get it done in any other way. So it has to be bipartisan.”
Though Democrats are eager to reach a resolution for the young immigrants, the party is hardly in the mood to compromise with Trump ahead of the midterm elections. Lawmakers see Trump’s unpopularity as a key to their success in November, and are eager to mobilize Democratic voters itching to deliver the president and his party a defeat at the ballot box.