Advertisement

Americans should confront Trump cabinet members every time they step out in public, says congresswoman Maxine Waters

Americans should carry on confronting members of the Trump administration, a Democratic congresswoman said, after White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to leave a restaurant by its owner because of her association with Donald Trump.

Maxine Waters made the comments at a rally against the US government’s policy of separating migrant families crossing the border from Mexico.

“Let's make sure we show up, wherever we have to show up," she told the crowd in Los Angeles. "If you see anybody from that cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you cause a crowd, and you push back on them, and you tell them they’re not welcome – anymore, anywhere – we’ve got to get the children connected to their parents, the children are suffering."

The California politician, and prominent critic of Mr Trump, also called for his impeachment.

"Mr President, we will see you every day, every hour of the day, everywhere that we are to let you know you cannot get away with this," she said on the same day that Ms Sanders, revealed she had been asked to leave Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Virginia, because of her affiliation with the US president.

“Last night I was told by the owner of Red Hen in Lexington, VA to leave because I work for @POTUS and I politely left,” she wrote on Twitter. “Her actions say far more about her than about me. I always do my best to treat people, including those I disagree with, respectfully and will continue to do so.”

Owner Stephanie Wilkinson, said she told Ms Sanders her establishment had "certain standards that I feel it has to uphold, such as honesty, and compassion, and cooperation”.

Homeland security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was also at the centre of a public protest last week after demonstrators holding signs entered a Mexican restaurant where she was eating and began chanting “shame” and “end family separation”. She was also forced to leave.

Ms Waters’ comments sparked fury among many conservatives, with Fox News contributor and prominent Trump supporter, Dan Bongino, accusing her of “trying to incite violence”.

Others praised the 79-year-old for her stand against the Trump administration, insisting she was simply instructing Americans to use their First Amendment rights.

Mr Trump last week signed an executive order to end the separation of families at the border, amid negative headlines and escalating outrage at the practice.

But the president insisted his administration would continue its zero tolerance approach to illegal immigrants, who he said were “infesting" the country.

“We cannot allow all of these people to invade our Country. When somebody comes in, we must immediately, with no Judges or Court Cases, bring them back from where they came," he tweeted.

“Our system is a mockery to good immigration policy and Law and Order. Most children come without parents our Immigration policy, laughed at all over the world, is very unfair to all of those people who have gone through the system legally and are waiting on line for years!

“Immigration must be based on merit - we need people who will help to Make America Great Again!”