The real action at State of the Union speeches has leaped from the House floor to the public viewing galleries up above, where lawmakers are increasingly using the guest list to make pointed public statements.
Democrats packed the galleries with people who have a beef with President Trump, including the combative mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico and illegal immigrant “Dreamers.”
The White House countered with its own faces of the immigration debate, including parents of two teen girls slain by the violent immigrant-based MS-13 gang, and a Homeland Security special agent who’s been involved in investigations that have nabbed dozens of the gang’s members in New York.
They were seated in first lady Melania Trump’s box, alongside Americans the White House said are benefitting from Mr. Trump’s tax cuts; a Marine who was blinded and lost both legs in a 2007 IED blast, only to later re-enlist; and rescue workers who saved lives during last year’s devastating hurricanes and forest fires.
The tradition of using State of the Union guest seats to make public statements dates back at least to President Ronald Reagan. His 1982 address was scheduled for just days after the tragic crash of Air Florida Flight 90 into the Potomac River, and he used the occasion to highlight federal worker Lenny Skutnik, who jumped into the icy waters to save a woman struggling to hold onto a helicopter’s rescue line.
Seated next to first lady Nancy Reagan, he was given a standing ovation — and a tradition was born. In the years since, presidents have invited heroes, role models and politicians.
Lawmakers started getting involved, using their own guest tickets to send statements.
And as the politics in Washington have sharpened, so has the tenor of the guest lists.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, New York Democrat, pointedly invited San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz, who has been one of the loudest critics of Mr. Trump, blaming him for the island territory’s poor recovery from last year’s hurricanes.
Dozens of Democrats are bringing Dreamers, saying they wanted people affected by the ongoing immigration debate to be present as Mr. Trump talks about how far he’s willing to go — and what concessions he’ll demand security-wise — to grant them citizenship rights.
“As the president gives his address, he will be forced to confront the faces of the Dreamers whose lives he has upended,” said Rep. Raul Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat who invited Arisaid Gonzalez Porras, a Dreamer from Arizona who’s studying at Georgetown University.
An Arizona congressman created a stir when he asked police to check IDs of guests and to arrest any illegal immigrants in attendance.
“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,” the congressman tweeted.
Commenters on his Twitter feed blasted him with a flood of expletives, while Sen. Mazie Hirono, a Hawaii Democrat, called his demand “disgusting.”
U.S. Capitol Police operate with a sanctuary city-style policy, refraining from asking legal status of those they arrest, shielding them from being turned over to deportation agents.
Rep. Tim Ryan, Ohio Democrat, said he was leaving his guest seat empty to protest the president’s immigration policy after a constituent of his was deported earlier this week.
Amer Othman, a Palestinian man the government said gained legal status based on a fraudulent marriage, was deported after nearly 40 years in the U.S.
“Amer deserves to be at the State of the Union this evening, representing himself and so many others like him, to show President Trump and congressional Republicans that the United States is his home. Instead his seat remains empty,” Mr. Ryan said.
Controversy also erupted around Bill Nye, the television personality known as the “Science Guy,” who was the guest of Rep. Jim Bridenstine, Oklahoma Republican. A group of female scientists said Mr. Nye was betraying science by lending his imprimatur to Mr. Trump’s speech.
“No number of shiny new satellites can undo the racist policies that make our Dreamer colleagues live in fear and prevent immigrants from pursuing scientific careers in the United States. And no new mission to the Moon can make our LGBTQ colleagues feel welcome at an agency run by someone who votes against their civil rights,” the female scientists wrote in Scientific American.
• S.A. Miller and Bradford Richardson contributed to this article.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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