SOTU guests make political statements

Environmental activist Varshini Prakash will hear Donald Trump's SOTU.

Updated: Feb. 5, 10:30 a.m. PDT to include Rep. TJ Cox.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is allowing Donald Trump to give his State of the Union address later today in front of the House of Representatives, the Senate, the Supreme Court, Cabinet members and the lawmakers' guests.

Congress members are allowed to invite guests to the annual speech where presidents can cite their accomplishments and lay out their agenda for the coming year. Donald Trump is expected to use the occasion to defend his proposal to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico and blame the Democrats for the government shutdown that he forced on federal workers.

The SOTU was originally scheduled on Jan. 28 but because the government was shut down, Pelosi cancelled the invitation to Trump because of security concerns.

Each member of Congress may bring a guest to the address, and many representatives choose guests who highlight key policy issues or stances that they support. Among today's guests will be a handful of Asian Americans, including an environmental activist, a recently furloughed government worker, a Rhodes scholar and the wife of a man being held in captivity in Vietnam.

Sen. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass. will bring Varshini Prakash, Executive Director and co-founder of Sunrise, a movement of young people working to stop climate change. Born in Massachusetts and a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 25-year old Prakash has already spent years successfully organizing young people who are dedicated to ending the reign of Big Oil and King Coal in politics and elect leaders who will fight for the health and well-being of future generations.

“Varshini is a powerful voice of her generation, leading an historic movement of young people who recognize that climate change is the most important issue facing the planet and its leaders,” said  Markey. “As a fearless leader on climate change, Varshini’s efforts are progressive, passionate, and effective, and that is just what we need to implement a green New Deal for our country."

Sen. Elizabeth Warren announced that Sajid Shahriar, an employee of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) who was furloughed during President Trump and Senate Republicans' 35-day-long federal government shutdown, will accompany her to the State of the Union address on Tuesday, February 5, 2019.

Sajid is a Massachusetts labor leader who serves as Executive Vice President of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 3258 and AFGE Vice President to the Massachusetts AFL-CIO. During the federal shutdown, 

Sajid did not receive a paycheck for 35 days and organized rallies in Boston with fellow federal workers, unions and community allies to urge Republican leaders to re-open the government. Sajid has devoted his career to fighting for fair housing, equal pay, the dignity of all work, and strong collective bargaining rights for workers across this country."It's time to send a message to ... Trump and Senate Republicans: federal and contract workers are the backbone of our economy and their livelihoods should never be used as pawns in Republican political games," said Warren.

The guest of Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., will be Helen Nguyen. Michael Phuong Minh Nguyen, Helen's husband, has been held in a detention center in Ho Chi Minh City for nearly seven months without any formal charges being brought, Porter said in a statement.

“The continued detention of an American citizen without charge is unacceptable,” Porter, who took office last month, said. “Michael Nguyen needs to return home as soon as possible to his family in Orange County.”

Since his detention, the Nguyens have lost their business, and the ordeal has created enormous stress for Helen Nguyen and their children, Porter said in her statement.

“She has essentially been a single mom with four school-aged daughters for nearly seven months, while she works two jobs as a nurse to support their family,” Porter said.

SCREEN CAPTURE

Rhodes scholar and DACA participant Jin Park.

Rep. Grace Meng is inviting South Korean immigrant Jin Park, 22, is a recent Harvard graduate and Define American Chapter Leader who won a Rhodes Scholarship for this fall at the University of Oxford in England. But since President Trump moved to end the DACA program, Park fears that he will not be permitted to re-enter the United States if he leaves the country to study at the school.

“Inviting Jin Park to Washington for the State of the Union will bring more attention to his plight and show firsthand how President Trump’s un-American immigration policies are shattering the lives of DREAMers,” said Meng. 

“In September 2017, ... Trump ended the DACA program and since then the lives of 700,000 young people across the country have hung in limbo. It is unconscionable that the President has put their hopes and dreams of a better future in jeopardy, and that includes Jin’s fate as well. It is shameful that Jin may have to abandon this coveted opportunity for a Rhodes Scholarship, an opportunity that he worked tirelessly to achieve.”

Freshman Rep. TJ Cox is inviting Raj Kaur, a federal law enforcement officer, single mother and cancer survivor, as his State of the Union guest tomorrow. Rep. Cox had previously highlighted the story of Raj – and 250 of her fellow law enforcement officers in Mendota who were forced to work without pay.. 

On medical leave from her cancer treatment, Raj had her pay disrupted during the shutdown. 

“People in Washington could learn a lot from the example of Raj Kaur and the 250 other law enforcement officers in Mendota who put their lives on the line everyday to protect us," said the Filipino American House member. "They deserve our respect, and they certainly deserve their paychecks. I’m honored to invite her to the State of the Union this year.”

“I’m proud to represent my fellow law enforcement officers, the community of cancer survivors and those who are still fighting, and working moms at the State of the Union," said Kaur. "Law enforcement is not simply a job – it’s a calling. But to do our jobs, we need government to function – and we need the assurances that we’ll be able to make rent every month, and receive our medical benefits on time.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

DACA student awarded a Rhodes Scholarship

SCREEN CAPTURE / MSNBC

Jin Park was interviewed on MSNBC about the DACA program.

A BENEFICIARY of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program has been awarded the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship.

Jin Kyu Park, the DACA recipient, is currently an undergraduate student at Harvard University studying molecular and cellular biology. He is also the managing editor of the Harvard Undergraduate Research Journal.

DACA is a program established by President Barack Obama to allow children who were brought to the U.S. by their undocumented parents, a path to staying in the country legally. One of the first things Donald Trump did when he took office was to issue to end the program. A series of lawsuits are still winding its way through the courts challenging Trump's action.

The Korean American student actually applied last year but was denied because of his DACA status. His application forced the Rhodes Trust to reexamine its criteria, which it eventually changed to accommodate DACA students. Park will join 29class of 32 U.S. students receiving the Rhodes Scholarship in 2019.

Established in 1902 by the will of British philanthropist Cecil Rhodes, the scholarships cover all costs for two or three years of study at Oxford. Winners are selected on the basis of high academic achievement, personal integrity, and leadership potential, among other attributes.

Park was born in South Korea and came to the United States at the age of seven. He grew up in New York City. 

Last year, Park wrote an oped for The New York Times. "As a child, I wanted to escape all semblance of my immigrant identity. I never wanted to be known as Jin Kyu Park, the Korean immigrant of a restaurant laborer and a nail salon worker. But as I grew and learned, I realized that my lack of status had defined the way I experienced America. My status is inextricably linked to my identity, because it has affected every single way I interact with this country – from close friends to political institutions. As an undocumented immigrant, I don’t choose to be political. My existence is by definition political through means out of my control," he wrote.

“Growing up as an undocumented person in New York City, I had a lot of formative experiences that have taught me that it’s important for me to use my talents and my educational training to give back to the undocumented community,” Park told the Harvard Crimson. “And I wanted to do that through the lens of healthcare.”

_________________________________________________________________________________