Congressman wants Dreamers attending State of the Union arrested

Wire photo/File

A Republican congressman urged US Capitol police and Attorney General Jeff Sessions to arrest any undocumented immigrants who attended Tuesday night’s State of the Union address.

US Representative Paul Gosar of Arizona tweeted from his official account that he also wanted officials to arrest “those using fraudulent social security numbers and identification to pass through security.”

“Of all the places where the Rule of Law needs to be enforced, it should be in the hallowed halls of Congress,” he tweeted. “Any illegal aliens attempting to go through security, under any pretext of invitation or otherwise, should be arrested and deported.”

Today, Congressman Paul Gosar contacted the U.S. Capitol Police, as well as Attorney General Jeff Sessions, asking they consider checking identification of all attending the State of the Union address and arresting any illegal aliens in attendance.

— Rep. Paul Gosar, DDS (@RepGosar) January 30, 2018

Additionally, Congressman Gosar asked that they arrest those using fraudulent social security numbers and identification to pass through security.

— Rep. Paul Gosar, DDS (@RepGosar) January 30, 2018

“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," said Congressman Gosar.

— Rep. Paul Gosar, DDS (@RepGosar) January 30, 2018

On his House of Representatives biography page, Gosar lists “fighting illegal immigration and securing the border” as one of his top priorities.

Representatives for the US Capitol police could not immediately be reached for comment.

Democrats, including those from Massachusetts, are strategically populating their guest lists with faces of the immigration debate that is roiling Congress and vexing President Trump. Their guests will include immigrants who are among the nearly 700,000 people who received protection from deportation under the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as “DACA.”

More than 20 “Dreamers” are expected in the House gallery Tuesday night. Those who invited such guests include high-profile legislators like House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senator Cory Booker, and Senator Kamala Harris.

Locally, Senator Elizabeth Warren is bringing Brockton City Councilor-At-Large Jean Bradley Derenoncourt, who immigrated to Massachusetts from Haiti after the devastating 2010 earthquake. He became a United States citizen in 2016.

Meanwhile, Representative Seth Moulton will bring Edenilson Granados, a Salvadoran immigrant with temporary protected status whose future is in question because of the Trump administration’s policies.

The Science Guy faces tempest of criticism

Bill Nye — aka “The Science Guy” — is in hot water with environmentalists and scientists alike for attending the State of the Union address as a guest of a lawmaker who has expressed skepticism of global warming.

A petition urging Nye to “not support the Trump administration’s disastrous climate denial agenda” by attending as the guest of Oklahoma Republican Congressman Jim Bridenstine, whose nomination to head National Aeronautics and Space Administration has drawn fire due to his lack of a science background and planet-warming stance.

Bridenstine, who at one time called on then-President Obama to apologize for spending funds to study humans’ affect on the climate, has since moderated his view, acknowledging after his nomination that humans are contributing to climate change.

The petition has more than 35,000 signatures, according to organizer ClimateTruth.org.

“As scientists, we cannot stand by while Nye lends our community’s credibility to a man who would undermine the United States’ most prominent science agency,” another group, 500 Women Scientists, wrote in a blog Tuesday.

Nye defended his attendance on Twitter, writing he was attending in capacity as chief executive officer of the nonprofit Planetary Society.

“My attendance . . . should not be interpreted as an endorsement of this administration, or of Congressman Bridenstine’s nomination, or seen as an acceptance of the recent attacks on science and the scientific community,” he wrote.

President Trump, who has suggested global warming a hoax invented by the Chinese, said in a recent interview with British journalist Piers Morgan that the argument that climate change is real “wasn’t working too well because it was getting too cold all over the place.”

The six hottest years on record have all occurred since 2010. Every decade has been warmer than the previous decade since the 1960s, according to National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration data.

BLOOMBERG NEWS

Trump reelection campaign raises funds from speech

WASHINGTON — Looking for a little publicity?

President Trump’s reelection campaign tried to raise cash from his first State of the Union speech by giving donors a taste of the spotlight.

Those who contributed had their names displayed under the livestream of the speech on the campaign’s website Tuesday night.

Trump’s middle son, Eric, said in a fund-raising e-mail that, ‘‘Even if you choose to only give $1, the proof of your support will send shockwaves around the world as they see every American who proudly stands behind our President.’’

The government watchdog group Public Citizen criticized the campaign for using the speech as a campaign fund-raising event.

The group’s president, Robert Weissman, says Trump ‘‘is commercializing and corrupting yet another national institution.’’

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Heroes populate guest list from White House

WASHINGTON — The White House released the list of people that President Trump and his wife, Melania, invited to attend the State of the Union address.

Among the guests:

■  David Dahlberg, a fire prevention technician who saved 62 children and staff members from a blaze-encircled summer camp in July during the wildfires in Southern California.

■  Ashlee Leppert, an aviation electronics technician in the Coast Guard who rescued dozens from hurricane ruins. According to the White House, Leppert operated a helicopter basket that hoisted to safety a woman who was clutching four children at once.

■  Jon Bridgers, the founder of the “Cajun Navy,” a nonprofit rescue team that served in Texas during Hurricane Harvey. In 2016, Bridgers founded the organization in response to flooding in Louisiana and continues to collect donations for areas still devastated.

■  Officer Ryan Holets, of the Albuquerque Police Department, who was twice shot at during his time as an officer. He and his wife adopted a child from parents who were addicted to opioids.

■  Corporal Matthew Bradford, now retired, who lost his sight and both legs when he stepped on an improvised explosive device in 2007 during a deployment to Iraq. After extensive treatment, Bradford became the first blind double-amputee to reenlist in the Marine Corps.

■  Staff Sergeant Justin Peck, who saved a fellow service member after an improvised explosive device detonated in November in Raqqa, Syria. Peck was on a mission to clear the devices from territory once held by the Islamic State group when a member of his team was gravely wounded. Peck went to his team member, despite the potential danger of each step, and provided lifesaving medical care on the scene.

■  Preston Sharp, a boy who has organized the placement of about 40,000 American flags and red carnations on soldiers’ graves through a campaign he calls the Flag and Flower Challenge. His efforts began in 2015 after a visit to the grave of his grandfather, a veteran, when he noticed other veterans’ graves were undecorated.

NEW YORK TIMES