Security can stand down for the night.
Congress’s first Muslim member, Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota, and nine other Democrats are inviting Muslim guests to Tuesday’s State of the Union address to combat the anti-Muslim rhetoric of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and growing anti-Muslim sentiment in the electorate.
Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., said she’s helping to organize the effort because “leading political figures have made offensive and outrageous suggestions that we should create a national registry of all people of one particular faith and that we should prevent any person of that faith from even entering this great country.”
Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., said Thursday he would follow suit to “show solidarity with the American-Muslim community at a time of escalating bigotry and discrimination.”