Virginia Dem Delegate Ibraheem Samirah popped up before the audience with signs reading “go back to your corrupted home,” “deport hate” and “reunite my family.”
“Mr. President, you can’t send us back, Virginia is our home,” the delegate shouted, sparking boos from the audience. A security officer escorted the protester as the audience went into its “Trump! Trump! Trump!” chant.
Trump remained silent during the incident.
Samirah later took to Twitter to justify his behavior by claiming that “nobody’s racism and bigotry should be excused for the sake of being polite” and that the US president is “unfit to partake in a celebration of democracy, representation, and our nation’s history of immigrants.”
Samirah was born in Chicago, Illinois, to a family of Palestinian origin. His father was denied re-entry into the US when Samirah was in middle school and was separated from his family, according to Reston Now.
Samirah’s demarche was condemned by the speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, Kirk Cox, who called the conduct indecent and “a violation of the rules of the House,” according to CBS6.
“I am disappointed by Delegate Ibraheem Samirah’s disrespectful outburst during the President’s remarks. It was not only inconsistent with common decency, it was also a violation of the rules of the House,” Cox said in a statement.
Accompanied by Virginia leaders, Trump visited the Jamestown Settlement to give a speech in commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the historic colony, a CBS6 report said.