Gosar wants police to arrest illegal immigrants at State of the Union

PHOENIX — An Arizona congressman asked Capitol Police in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday to arrest any illegal immigrants attempting to attend President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address.

“Of all the places where the rule of law needs to be enforced, it should be in the hallowed halls of Congress,” Republican U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar said in a stream of tweets.

“Any illegal aliens attempting to go through security, under any pretext of invitation or otherwise, should be arrested and deported.”

Gosar also asked police to arrest anyone who attempted to gain access to the speech using a fake Social Security number or identification.

The congressman said he submitted an identical request to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ office.

In an interview with 97.1 WASH-FM, Gosar said he proposed this idea because he believes members of Congress need to be held to the same level of the law as others.

“[The law] isn’t just for some of us, it’s for all of us.”

Several Democrats, including U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego of Arizona, had planned to bring guests who were allowed to remain in the country under the Deferred Action for Childhood arrivals program that Trump ended last year.

“I hope that President Trump and his administration will take notice of the Dreamers who attend tonight’s address and it will remind them to get to work to fix the problem they created,” Gallego said in a release.

Gosar’s request was met with some derision online by Arizona officials.

This is why we can’t have nice things… https://t.co/2vLHDFvFgq

— Jeff Flake (@JeffFlake) January 30, 2018

Gosar later fired back at Flake’s comment.

This is why you got forced out of office. https://t.co/XWNdJUoEhC

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

Today, Rep. Gosar's grandstanding took the form of ridiculous #SOTU demands that serve as a reminder that we need protection for DREAMers now! @RepGosar, Arizonans want you and your colleagues to do your job and pass a #CleanDREAMAct. 1/2

— Kate Gallego (@KateWGallego) January 30, 2018

The only thing that doesn’t belong at #SOTU is Gosar’s hate. Instead of enabling Trump, maybe he should learn the facts about #DACA and stop sowing division. #ProtectDreamers https://t.co/obeaQIbONc

— Raul M. Grijalva (@RepRaulGrijalva) January 30, 2018

A spokeswoman for Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said he was against the idea.

Ryan spox @AshLeeStrong on Gosar call for Capitol Police to be on look out for Dreamers at SOTU: "The speaker clearly does not agree." per @FoxReports

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) January 30, 2018

Details of Trump’s address were unknown as of Tuesday afternoon, but he will likely address a proposed plan that would grant a path to citizenship for 1.8 million immigrants.

Gosar will attend the speech with Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan.

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