‘Virginia Is Our Home!’ State Delegate Interrupts Trump’s Jamestown Speech to Protest ‘Racist-in-Chief’

A Virginia state delegate interrupted President Trump’s speech at Jamestown, Virginia on Tuesday to protest the president’s hijacking of “a celebration of democratic values he doesn’t even hold.”

Ibraheem Samirah, who represents Virginia’s 86th District, was seated down near the dais where Trump was giving his speech at a celebration commemorating the 400th anniversary of the founding of the settlement at Jamestown. As Trump began reading a list of famous Virginians who helped found the country, Samirah popped to his feet and began shouting:

“Mr. President, you can’t send us back! Virginia is our home! Mr. President, you can’t send us back! Virginia is our home!”

Samirah also held up a triptych of signs, one of which read “DEPORT HATE,” and continued chanting as the crowd booed to try and drown him out. Security quickly removed him.

Samirah’s office immediately sent out a press release about his action:

I just disrupted the @realDonaldTrump speech in Jamestown because nobody’s racism and bigotry should be excused for the sake of being polite. The man is unfit for office and unfit to partake in a celebration of democracy, representation, and our nation’s history of immigrants. pic.twitter.com/0okD7eRVer

— Delegate Ibraheem Samirah (@IbraheemSamirah) July 30, 2019

In his press release, Samirah called Trump “the racist-in-chief” who does not live up to the standards of Virginia’s founders, a “group of undocumented immigrants” who established the commonwealth and began “a centuries long tradition of people from across the world immigrating here for a chance at safety, democracy, and prosperity.” Much like Samirah’s own parents, he noted, who are Palestinian refugees.

Samirah is a dentist by trade has only been in office for five months, having won his seat in a special election in February.