Rep. Steve King Angered by Immigration Activist Protest

A group of immigration reform activists from United We Dream showed up today to protest at the legislative office of Congressman Steve King (R) of Iowa after he'd sponsored an effort to cut funding to President Barack Obama's deferred action program, which grants deportation reprieves to "DREAMers" (i.e., adults who came to the USA illegally as young children and who are essentially acculturated Americans in every way except by citizenship):

United We Dream, an undocumented youth activist group, organized a protest at the Iowa congressman's office this morning. Two dozen or so demonstrators showed up at King's office to voice their displeasure with him, organizers said. They arrived wearing caps and gowns (photo here) to reinforce their message that they want to pursue higher education and careers in the U.S... Julieta Garibay, a legislative associate with United We Dream who participated in the protest, said the activists had asked to meet with King, but his staff turned down that request. Instead, she said, demonstrators recited the Pledge of Allegiance in front of King's staffers and offered personal accounts of how their immigration status had affected their educational and career goals... In the middle of the protest, Capitol Police were called to King's office in the Rayburn House Office Building. The demonstrators were peaceably escorted out by officers, Garibay said.

This protest upset Rep. King, who took his grievance to Twitter:



In somewhat related news, the U.S. Census Bureau reports that Iowa's Hispanic population continues to increase as a much higher rate than the rest of Iowa's overall population. The Hispanic population numbers for Iowa came in at 162,800 in 2012, which was a 3.2% increase from 2011.