President Donald Trump attempted to change the conversation about ‘family separation’ on Friday to the American citizens who will never see their relatives again because they were murdered by illegal immigrants.
Maureen Maloney, a face case of the White House event, recalled how an illegal immigrant from Guatemala killed her son, Matthew, in a July 2012 drunk driving incident.
Her 23-year-old son’s killer had two previous DUIs on his record and protected by a sanctuary city in Riverside, California, she said.
‘I was gonna end my life. I had no purpose. But President Trump coming down that escalator that day and talking about illegal immigration stopped me in my track,’ she said of Trump’s 2015 campaign announcement. ‘And I had no clue at that point, that I would ever be at the White House.’
Maureen Maloney, a face case of the White House event, recalled how an illegal immigrant from Guatemala killed her son, Matthew, in a July 2012 drunk driving incident
She’s holding an urn here that carries his ashes. ‘I brought my son. This is what I have left, his ashes,’ she said
Trump said he brought the families out because ‘you hear the other side, you never hear this side, you don’t know what’s going on’
‘They’re not separated for a day or two days,’ he said. ‘They are permanently separated’
Maloney thanked Trump and Vice President Mike Pence for making illegal immigrant crime a priority of their administration as she told the nation about ‘permanent separation’ that she blamed on localities’ sanctuary city laws.
‘I brought my son. This is what I have left, his ashes,’ she said as she held up a palm-sized urn. ‘I wear his ashes in a locket. This is how I get to hug my son,’ she said of a necklace she had on.
She told attendees of the Friday afternoon event: ‘So remember when you go home to hug your kids, that there are many of us, thousands of us, who don’t get to do that anymore.
She demanded of lawmakers, ‘Let’s work together and get this done.
‘All politicians, I don’t care what side you’re on,’ she plead. ‘You don’t want your child in a casket or in an urn. So get it together, for God’s sake, for our country’s citizens.’
Both Maloney and another ‘Angel’ Family member Agnes Gibboney said they emigrated to America legally.
Gibboney, who said she spent 13 years weeding through the paperwork, told attendees, ‘I will fight for this country until my death.’
She held up a Trump-signed picture of her son and the president said in a lighter moment during an otherwise tense event, ‘This is Tom Selek, except better looking.’
To Trump Gibboney said in her remarks, ‘You were the biggest birthday present I got.
‘And I’m still waiting for that shovel to help build the wall at the border, I live in California,’ the 63-year-old said, making reference to an offer she made in 2017 to dig trenches. ‘I am so proud and honored of you Mr. President. The integrity and honor you’ve shown us. ‘
Trump said he brought the families out because ‘you hear the other side, you never hear this side, you don’t know what’s going on.’
‘They’re not separated for a day or two days,’ he said. ‘They are permanently separated.’
She held up a Trump-signed picture of her son and the president said in a lighter moment during an otherwise tense event, ‘This is Tom Selek, except better looking’
Family after family took the mic to praise the president and vice president for making illegal immigrant crime a priority of their administration
Also attending the event was Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen (L). She is seen greeting a family member listen after the ‘Angel Families’ event
The president claimed, ‘These are the families the media ignores. Very unfair, you have to look at that, this is a very unfair situation.’
He said they are stories that ‘Democrats and other that are weak on immigration’ like to ignore, the ‘death and destruction’ caused by people ‘who shouldn’t be here.’
‘There are really hardcore criminal aliens,’ he warned.
Trump railed against America’s laws as the ‘weakest in the world, weakest in the history of the world’ and against sanctuary cities that have become safe havens for the very same criminal aliens.
Like the mayor of San Diego, he said, warned everybody about an ICE raid.
He was referring to Libby Schaaf, the mayor of Oakland. The major of San Diego, Kevin Faulconer, is a Republican.
‘And where is the outcry over MS-13 and it’s blood thirty creed?’ he asked.
The Angel Family relatives who died are people who could have been very successful in life, he asserted.
‘Could have been right here. Standing here,’ he said referring to the presidency.
Laura Wilkerson’s 18-year-old son Josh Wilkerson died in 2010 after being tortured and beaten.
‘Anytime we want to see or be close with our kids, we go to the cemetery,’ she said. ‘You guys know the permanent separation. It’s the media who won’t hear it.’
Michelle Wilson-Root’s daughter Sarah was murdered in 2016 by an illegal immigrant.
‘Again my separation is permanent. Sarah is never coming home. I will never get to take a selfie with her ever again,’ she said.
Family after family took the mic to praise the president and vice president for making illegal immigrant crime a priority of their administration.
They followed Trump’s lead, with several slapped down the media for not taking a greater interest in their cases.
Trump in his remarks once again claimed that the legal immigration also needs to be changed because in the diversity visa lottery, countries ‘put them in a draw’ and pick out their ‘worst ones’ and send them to America.
In reality, prospective migrants volunteer to come and are heavily vetted by the State Department.