{UAH} STATE OF UNION IS GOING TO BE ABOUT ILLEGALS Vs LAW ENFORCEMENT

State of the Union Guests Will Reflect Immigration Split

Democrats invite undocumented ex-worked at a Trump golf club, while GOP lawmakers bring law-enforcement officers

President Trump delivers his 2018 State of the Union address. In the audience at this year’s address will be people representing both sides of the immigration debate. Photo: Susan Walsh/Associated Press

By

Natalie Andrews

 

Updated Feb. 3, 2019 4:25 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON—When President Trump delivers his State of the Union address on Tuesday, the debate over immigration that spurred the recent government shutdown will be well-represented in the guests invited to view from the House gallery.

Mr. Trump’s insistence that Congress fund part of a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico led to the 35-day partial shutdown that ended last month, when the president backed off that demand. Lawmakers now are working to hash out a deal on that and other immigration issues before funding again runs out at midmonth.

Democratic lawmakers have invited refugees and immigrants, including two who were undocumented when they worked for Mr. Trump’s Bedminster, N.J., golf club. Republicans are offering seats to law-enforcement officers, including those who work on or near the border with Mexico.

The guests will sit in the chamber overlooking the House floor where the president will deliver his remarks before a joint session of Congress. This year’s address is notable, in part, because the speech itself became a flashpoint in the immigration standoff. Last month, House Speaker Nancy Pelosidelayed it in the midst of the government shutdown, prompting the president to cancel her use of a military plane to visit U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

The White House and lawmakers have made a tradition of bringing guests to the speech to highlight political points, reward military service or other acts of valor since President Reagan first called out his invitee, Lenny Skutnik, in 1982. Mr. Skutnik had dived into the Potomac River to pull a woman to safety after a plane crashed into a bridge in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Trump is expected to announce his State of the Union guests on Monday.

Congressional Democrats’ invitees include Victorina Morales, an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala, and Sandra Diaz, a native of Costa Rica. Both Ms. Morales and Ms. Diaz worked at the Trump resort in Bedminster as undocumented immigrants. Ms. Morales is the guest of New Jersey Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman and Ms. Diaz, who is a now a legal resident, was given a ticket by Rep. Jimmy Gomez of California.

Ms. Watson Coleman said she extended the invitation to Ms. Morales because she wanted people to see an undocumented immigrant who worked for the president’s business. “This highlights his hypocrisy in a way that I think Americans need to be educated on, and we need to continue to show that immigrants are not a threat to security,” she said in an interview.

Democratic Rep. Grace Meng of New York will bring Jin Park, a Rhodes Scholar and beneficiary of President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that blocked deportation of some immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents. Mr. Jin has said he is nervous to leave the country to study at Oxford because the president has moved to end the DACA program, an issue that is could again resurface in wall-funding talks.

Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas will bring Manny Padilla, according to an aide. Mr. Padilla is the former sector chief for the Border Patrol Rio Grande Valley and current director of the Border Patrol’s Joint Task Force-West.

The parents of a 22-year-old Tennessee man killed in a car crash in which an illegal immigrant was charged will also be in attendance as guests of Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.) and Rep. Tim Burchett (R., Tenn.).

“The attendance of Pierce’s parents at the State of the Union serves as a reminder that we as a Congress have a duty to keep the American people safe,” Ms. Blackburn said of her invitation to D.J. and Wendy Corcoran.

Corrections & Amplifications
Victorina Morales worked at President Trump’s Bedminster, N.J. resort from 2013 to 2018. Sandra Diaz worked at the resort from 2010 to 2013. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said that both Ms. Morales and Ms. Diaz worked at the Trump resort in Bedminster from 2010 to 2013 as undocumented immigrants. (Jan. 18, 2018)

Write to Natalie Andrews at Natalie.Andrews@wsj.com

 

 

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