Arizona Democrats boycott State of the Union as Kelly vows Trump ‘can’t intimidate’ him

The majority of the Democrats in Arizona’s congressional delegation say they will be skipping President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday, but the Arizona Democrat targeted most directly by the president said he’ll be there as an act of defiance.

“Two weeks ago, Donald Trump tried to have me arrested for something I said that he didn’t like, so I’m going to be in that room because he can’t intimidate me or stop me from doing my job — standing up for Arizona and the Constitution,” U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly told the Arizona Mirror in a written statement.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Justice failed in a bid to indict Kelly and five other congressional Democrats who appeared in a social media video reminding members of the military that they have a duty to ignore illegal orders. That video has been the basis of the U.S. Department of Defense’s push to demote Kelly, who retired from the Navy as a captain. A judge ruled that the Trump administration “trampled on” Kelly’s constitutional rights in doing so.

While Kelly will be in attendance, Arizona’s other senator won’t be.

“There’s more productive things I could do with my time than just sitting there for two hours and clapping on cue,” U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego said in a social media video announcing he wouldn’t be in attendance when Trump addresses Congress.

In a separate written statement, Gallego said that Trump and his administration continue “disregard the rule of law and the Constitution while failing to lower costs for American families.”

“I have more productive ways to spend two hours than listening to more lies,” he added.

And U.S. Rep. Yassamin Ansari, a Phoenix Democrat, said she will instead be participating in MeidasTouch & MoveOn’s “People’s State of the Union,” a rally counterprogramming Trump’s speech. She said she’ll be joined by Sonia Almaraz, whose partner, Arbella “Yari” Marquez, who has been held in the Eloy Detention Center for a year and is suffering from leukemia.

“Donald Trump tore my family apart. For a full year, Yari has been held in the Eloy Detention Center under horrific conditions. Every day, I fear a call telling me she didn’t make it. Her health is rapidly deteriorating,” Almaraz said in a statement issued by Ansari’s office. “She’s lost over 70 pounds, coughs up blood, suffers relentless headaches, and can no longer walk on her own. This is Trump’s real state of the union.”

Last year, Ansari attended Trump’s speech to Congress, but walked out during the middle of it, saying later that she was “devastated by the bulls– I just heard.”

Arizona’s newest member of Congress, Tucson Democrat Adelita Grijalva, also said she is skipping Trump’s address. Instead, she said she is giving her ticket to U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar so that Mubashir Khalif Hussen — a U.S. citizen of Somali descent who was violently detained by federal immigration agents despite repeatedly asserting his citizenship — can attend.

“I will not sit silently while Trump gaslights the American people with lies about how great everything is,” Grijalva said in a written statement. “Here’s the real state of the union: our communities are living in fear, working families cannot make ends meet, health care is unaffordable for our veterans and seniors, meanwhile the Department of Education is being dismantled. These are policies that should be protested, not applauded.”

U.S. Rep. Greg Stanton has not publicly said whether they plan to attend the State of the Union and a request for comment from his office was not immediately returned.

Trump has pledged to carry out the “largest domestic deportation operation in American history,” aiming to remove all of the estimated 12 million immigrants in the country without permanent legal status, regardless of how long they have been in the country, the legal status of their family members or whether they have criminal records. The violence and questionable adherence to due process in the administration’s immigration enforcement have sparked national outrage. More than 50 people have died while in federal immigration custody under Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.

The Arizonans skipping Trump’s speech are part of a larger — and growing — group of roughly 50 Democrats who have said they will not attend. Others include U.S. Sens. Adam Schiff of California, Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, and U.S. Reps. Delia Ramirez of Illinois, Veronica Escobar of Texas and Pramila Jayapal of Washington, among others.

This report was first published by the Arizona Mirror.

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