Campaign Action
Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and more than two dozen House members “will fill the balcony with so-called Dreamers and other immigrants” at Donald Trump’s State of the Union address next week. The announcement comes as the White House has announced President Stephen Miller’s “immigration plan” demanding a white supremacist wish list in exchange for Dreamers. Trump keeps claiming he loves the Dreamers and that they have nothing to worry about, now he can tell them that straight to their faces:
“While the president is busy mingling with the biggest beneficiaries of the GOP tax scam in Davos, Stephen Miller is once again running loose in the White House with his own hateful anti-immigrant agenda,” Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill said, referring to the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. “Now, Miller is trying to ransom the lives of innocent Dreamers for a $25 billion anti-immigrant wish list. The White House strategy of moving the goalposts every time the president isn’t paying attention continues to complicate this process.”
According to Politico, several Democratic members of the Senate also plan to bring immigrants as their guests, but did not specify who. “I’m proud of the thousands of DREAMers who have come forward to share their stories,” said Rep. Bill Foster (D-IL), who is bringing a DACA recipient as his guest. “In my district, Ana is a shining example of the American dream. DREAMers like Ana are hardworking, driven, and patriotic, so it’s unfortunate that President Trump and Republican Leadership in Congress have chosen to use them as pawns in the legislative process."
While this isn’t the first time members of Congress have brought DACA recipients as their guests to a presidential address—last year, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) brought Yuriana Aguilar, the first undocumented Ph.D. to graduate from UC Merced as her guest to Trump’s address to Congress—it is the first time Dreamers will be there following Trump rescinding the program in September. Without permanent protections soon, young aspiring Americans like Yuriana and Ana will now face being torn from the only country they’ve ever known as home.