U.S.

Rep. Steve King Thinks High-Schoolers in His Office Are an Invasive Alien Species

Congressman Steve King is no fan of immigration reform — nor, apparently, the democratic process.

J.K. Trotter

This article is from the archive of our partner .

Congressman Steve King is no fan of immigration reform — nor, apparently, the democratic process. On Thursday morning, members of a youth coalition called United We Dream, which is funded by the the National Immigration Law Center (a Los Angeles non-profit), paid a perfectly legal visit to the Iowa Republican, who in his capacity as the Vice-President a member of the House Subcommittee on Immigration has inveighed repeatedly — and beyond boisterously — against the ongoing efforts to enact immigration reform that would recognize undocumented persons already living in America. The UWD high-schoolers, dressed in graduation caps and gowns, documented their peaceful visit to King's Senate office on Capitol Hill. As part of a demonstration, they presented a pile of flip-flop sandals (Update: a photo not taken in his office) to protest the weakened resolve of Marco Rubio, King's party colleague and Gang of Eight leader, to pass his own bill.

After King was apprised of their presence, and clearly feeling under siege, King — no stranger to bold pronouncements — grabbed his iPhone and tweeted:

Invaded? Not quite. The UWD members appeared at his office during normal visiting hours for the Rayburn Office Building, where King's office is located.

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The episode comes several days after the GOP-controlled House of Representatives passed an odd amendment authored by King that would prevent the Department of Homeland Security from funding a program, instituted by the Obama administration in 2012, that stanches unnecessary deportations of young but undocumented immigrants. The program, as the Los Angeles Times points out, is already self-funded by application fees, so King's amendment was seen as basic point-scoring to rally an anti-reform base. This would be why United We Dream, which helps organize and advocates for undocumented youth, showed up at King's Congressional quarters.

Shortly after the invasion, King played up the encounter to attack the so-called Gang of Eight, a bipartisan coalition headed by Rubio intent on securing immigration reform:

Behold: the productive discourse of Washington politics.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.