Calif. assemblyman joins protesters outside Gov. Brown’s luncheon for Mexican president

California state assemblyman Tim Donnelly joined protesters outside of Gov. Jerry Brown’s mansion on Tuesday during a luncheon honoring Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto.

The demonstrators gathered to protest Mexico’s handling of Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi, who was jailed in Mexico in March for illegally entering the country with three firearms and is awaiting trial. The Marine maintains that he crossed the border by accident after making a wrong turn on his way to meet a friend.

Mr. Donnelly, a Republican, was invited to attend the luncheon in Los Angeles but instead decided to join the protest, Twitchy reported.

“I know that my absence may distress you, but it may comfort you to know that I’ll be standing outside leading a protest, doing the job you should have done as the highest elected official in California; demanding the release of one of our own, our Marine, Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi,” he wrote in a letter to the governor. “You are welcome to join us if your conscience bothers you.”

Mr. Brown declined to answer questions about Sgt. Tahmooressi during a radio interview Tuesday morning.

“I think it’s the prudent course for me, as the chief executive, not to start opining on factual legal matters that only a radio host is presenting,” he said, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Mr. Brown dismissed Mr. Donnelly as a right-wing conspiracy theorist.

“He thinks Common Core is some U.N. plot or something,” he said. “Some people are so far out in right field.”