Rep. Gomez Keeps SOTU Tradition: Immigrants Coming Illegally to U.S. Get Invites

The Associated Press
The Associated Press
Penny Starr

Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) is continuing his State of the Union tradition of inviting illegal immigrants to join him.

Last year, Gomez invited Itayu Torres, a so-called “Dreamer” from his district who got temporary protection from deportation through former President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) executive order.

This year, Gomez is more directly targeting President Donald Trump, who is still trying to help DACA recipients and secure the border in a federal spending bill without cooperation from Democrats. 

Gomez has invited Sandra Diaz, “an immigrant from Costa Rica who worked as an undocumented housekeeper to Donald Trump between 2010 and 2013,” a press release distributed to the media said.

“Sandra — who has since become a legal resident — was one of many undocumented workers at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, where she was responsible for tending to Trump’s personal residence and had occasional interactions with him,” the press release said, but does not provide any documentation of her employment or immigration status.

Gomez goes on to allege Diaz suffered “physical and verbal abuse.”

“Her supervisors, who were allegedly aware of her undocumented status at the time, coerced her to do certain jobs against her will, subjected her to physical and verbal abuse and threatened her with deportation. Sandra quit the job in 2013 and brought her story to the public late last year.”

The press release is referring to a 2018 report in the New York Times entitled “Making President Trump’s Bed: A Housekeeper Without Papers,” which focuses on another illegal immigrant but mentions Diaz.

Sandra Diaz, 46, a native of Costa Rica who is now a legal resident of the United States, said she, too, was undocumented when she worked at Bedminster between 2010 and 2013. The two women said they worked for years as part of a group of housekeeping, maintenance and landscaping employees at the golf club that included a number of undocumented workers, though they could not say precisely how many. There is no evidence that Mr. Trump or Trump Organization executives knew of their immigration status. But at least two supervisors at the club were aware of it, the women said, and took steps to help workers evade detection and keep their jobs.

“When I first met Sandra, I was inspired by her story and her courage,” Gomez said in the press release. “It’s no small feat for a migrant from Costa Rica to stand up to a bully and hypocrite in the White House.”

“She is living proof that President Trump couldn’t be more wrong — both morally and factually — when he demonizes those who come to America seeking a better life,” Gomez said.

Gomez slammed the “Trump organization,” claiming that the people in it don’t mind having illegal immigrants “polish their golf clubs” but won’t treat them with “dignity.”

The president’s wife, first lady Melania Trump, is a legal immigrant for Slovenia.

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