Virginia Lawmaker Interrupts Trump Speech to Protest Family Separation

Speaking on Tuesday at the 400th Anniversary of the Joint Commemorative Session of the Virginia General Assembly in Jamestown, President Donald Trump was interrupted by a state lawmaker protesting the president’s ongoing attacks on immigrants across the United States.

Carrying a sign that read “reunite my family” and “deport hate,” the protester, who later identified himself as a Virginia state delegate, loudly declared, “You can’t send us back, Virginia is our home!” while Trump patiently—if uncharacteristically—waited for the man to be escorted away.

As the man, identified by NBC News and his colleague Lee Carter as state delegate Ibraheem Samirah, was taken out of the event, the crowd—which did not include Virginia’s Democratic and black caucuses, who said they would boycott the speech—began to chant Trump’s name as the president stood and watched.

After he was removed, Samirah posted a statement about his protest to Twitter.

“The fact that the racist-in-chief, who so openly stokes hate against immigrants, was even invited to this event is insulting to Virginians,” he said.

The protest occurred around the same time Mark Morgan, Trump’s acting chief of Customs and Border Protection, was testifying before the Senate Homeland Security Committee, where he too was faced with protesters demanding he “close the camps.”