Steve King criticizes Obama for inviting ‘a deportable’ to SOTU

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) criticized President Barack Obama via Twitter just hours before the State of the Union address Tuesday night for inviting “a deportable” to sit with First Lady Michelle Obama.

“#Obama perverts ‘prosecutorial discretion’ by inviting a deportable to sit in place of honor at #SOTU w/1st Lady,” King tweeted. “I should sit with Alito.”

King was likely referring to Ana Zamora, a Dreamer from Dallas who was among the honored guests invited to sit with the first lady for the State of the Union address. The 21-year-old is is finishing up her last year at Northwood University in Texas, where she is majoring in business administration.

SEE ALSO: Dreamer to sit with First Lady at State of the Union

Zamora is one of the more than 600,000 undocumented youth immigrants benefiting from Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Announced in 2012, the program protects undocumented youth from deportation and grants them work authorization.

Zamora’s parents—described by the White House as a small-business owner and a construction worker—are potentially eligible to receive temporary relief from deportation and work authorization under a new program Obama announced last November as part of a series of executive actions.

In September, Zamora wrote a letter to Obama to express why her parents deserved the same relief she received through the DACA program.

“As I write this letter, my heart pounds and tears roll out of my eyes as I remember all the sacrifices my parents have made through the years to procure me a better future,” Zamora wrote in her letter to Obama.

King has been a vocal opponent of Obama’s recent executive actions on immigration and has pushed for legislation to end the DACA program. Last week, he joined House Republicans in passing measures to cut off funding for the president’s executive actions on immigration as well as the DACA program. He also introduced legislation to deny citizenship to children who are born in the United States but have undocumented parents.

SEE ALSO: Obama: ‘The State of the Union is strong’

On Saturday, King will be holding the “Iowa Freedom Summit” for several potential Republican presidential candidates. Among those GOP presidential hopefuls scheduled to attend are New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry. Immigration is an issue that will likely come up during the event.

When asked King about the tweet Tuesday night, King tried to channel Taylor Swift’s song by telling reporters to “shake it off.”

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