Deported Mom's Kids Invited By Democratic Reps to Attend Trump's Speech to Congress
Democratic lawmakers have launched a provocative new protest, forcing President Trump to face the devastating consequences of his immigration policy head-on. On Friday, Arizona Democratic representatives Raúl Grijalva and Ruben Gallego announced they had invited the two children of a recently deported woman to attend Trump's first address to Congress on Tuesday.
Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos lived in Mesa, Arizona with her two children, Jaqueline, 14, and Angel, 16, until February 9, the day after her arrest at an annual ICE check-in. Her deportation was one of the first following Donald Trump's executive order on undocumented immigrants issued his first week in office.
Rayos' deportation met with protests from the same group responsible for ousting Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Her children have since been bombarded with messages from Trump supporters backing the action.
"It's not getting to us, you're not hurting our feelings, you're not putting us down," Angel told ABC15 Arizona. Instead, he said, "you're making us want to fight harder to bring [Guadalupe] back, and that's what's gonna happen."
With Ehsun Mirza, a Muslim-American immigrant, Iranian graduate student Sara Yarjani and Lupe Salmeron, a Dreamer who is studying at Edgewood College in Madison in attendance, the Rayos kids are in good company.
“As an undocumented immigrant, I’ve always felt safe growing up in Madison, but since the election President Trump has opened up a whole new world of fear among immigrants," Salmeron told The Nation. "I’m honored to attend the Joint Address to Congress and speak out on behalf of the experiences of undocumented immigrants.”
Jaqueline and Angel also have a meeting set up with Arizona Republican Senator John McCain.
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