Lawmakers have invited at least a dozen people affected by the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown to the State of the Union address on Tuesday, in a stark visual reminder of the deep divide over an issue that has inflamed partisan tensions and hamstrung Congress.
The guests will offer differing portraits of the administration’s mass deportation campaign. Republicans have largely applauded the administration’s efforts, saying they are necessary to reduce crime and promote public safety. Democrats have condemned the crackdown for sweeping up people who were in the country lawfully or who had no criminal records. They have also argued that the aggressive tactics of immigration agents should be reined in.
President Trump’s speech comes as Congress remains deadlocked over a proposal that would restore funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees agencies including Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Funding for the department lapsed on Feb. 14, although its essential functions have continued.
Democrats have pushed for a range of new restrictions on immigration agents to keep the department’s funds flowing. But those demands have met resistance from Republicans.
Representative Randy Feenstra, Republican of Iowa, said he would bring Scott and Scotty Root, the father and brother of Sarah Root, a young Iowa woman who authorities said was killed after a drunken driver crashed into her vehicle in Omaha in 2016. The driver, Eswin Mejia, was living in the United States illegally and was sentenced this month to up to 22 years in prison, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
On Monday, Mr. Trump hosted an event for what he calls “angel families” — those with a family member killed by an undocumented immigrant — and signed a proclamation honoring the victims of such crimes. A White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe speech planning, said several of the families had been invited to the State of the Union address.
But Democrats say the crackdown has created victims of its own.
Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, said on Monday that he would be taking Raiza Contreras, a mother whose son, Dylan Lopez Contreras, was the first reported public school student in New York City to be detained by immigration agents last year. Mr. Schumer said he had “entered legally and was following the law.”
“I am proud to bring Raiza as my personal guest to the State of the Union to show how ICE is hurting families and terrorizing communities across America,” Mr. Schumer said in a statement. “Dylan deserves to be home with his mom and in the community that loves him. We must rein in ICE.”
Homeland security officials have called the 20-year-old student “an illegal alien from Venezuela.”
Representative Ilhan Omar, the Minnesota Democrat who has been a target of attacks from Mr. Trump, said on Monday that she would bring four guests who have been impacted by the Trump administration’s enforcement blitz in the state: Aliya Rahman, Mary Granlund, Mubashir Hussen and Gerardo Orozco Guzman.
Ms. Rahman garnered national attention after a video showed immigration officers surrounding her car before they dragged her out of the vehicle. During the encounter, she shouted that she was on her way to a doctor’s appointment.
Officials at the Department of Homeland Security have said that she was an “agitator” who ignored commands to move her vehicle.
Representative Adelita Grijalva, Democrat of Arizona, said on Monday that she would skip the State of the Union address and transfer her ticket to Ms. Omar so that she could bring Mr. Hussen, a U.S. citizen who says he was stopped and detained by immigration agents. The American Civil Liberties Union is suing the Trump administration on behalf of Mr. Hussen and other Minnesota residents, arguing that their constitutional rights were violated by immigration officers.
“If Trump wants to boast about his reckless and unconstitutional immigration enforcement, he should do it in front of the people who these policies have directly harmed,” Ms. Grijalva said in a statement.
Representative Jesús García, Democrat of Illinois, has also invited Marimar Martinez, a Chicago woman who was shot five times by Charles Exum, a Border Patrol agent.
The federal government was pursuing a now-defunct criminal case against Ms. Martinez, claiming that she used her car to assault federal agents and interfere with their work enforcing immigration laws. Prosecutors dropped the charges after her lawyers raised concerns about the preservation of evidence. Text messages released this month showed that Gregory Bovino, a top Border Patrol official, praised Mr. Exum after the shooting.
Michael Gold and Megan Mineiro contributed reporting.
Madeleine Ngo covers immigration and economic policy for The Times.
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