One of President Donald Trump’s signature policy issues for the last decade has been immigration, which featured prominently in his State of the Union speech Tuesday night. Here are the craziest responses from Democrats to the president’s commitment to enforcing federal immigration law.

Please Remain Seated

During his speech, the president highlighted the stories of Lizbeth Medina, a 16-year-old girl who was stabbed to death by an illegal immigrant, and Delilah Coleman, who was nearly killed at the age of five by an illegal immigrant driving a commercial freight truck. These stories “remind everyone in this chamber exactly why we are deporting illegal alien criminals from our country at record numbers and we’re getting them the hell out of here fast. We don’t want them,” the president said. “We can never forget that many in this room not only allowed the border invasion to happen before I got involved, but indeed they would do it all over again if they ever had the chance,” he added, clearly referring to Democrats, who he said “would open up those borders to some of the worst criminals anywhere in the world.” To illustrate, the president asked, “If you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support: The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.” No Democrats stood.

Vice President J.D. Vance criticized Democrats for their refusal to commit to American citizens. “While some in Washington prioritize the needs of illegal immigrants, President Trump and this administration will always put American citizens first,” he said in a social media post. White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller, the chief architect of the president’s immigration agenda, was less reserved in his criticism. “Democrats declared to the world their searing disdain for, and profound disloyalty to, the actual citizens of the United States. They were repeatedly entreated to stand. Over and over. They refused,” he said. “It was a moment that chills to the bone and which will live for a thousand years.”

Following the State of the Union, however, Democrats doubled down on their commitment to illegal immigrants over American citizens. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) argued that it was “legitimate and right” for Democrats not to agree with the president that the “first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.” He launched into a tirade demonizing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. “Americans are being pulled out of their cars and beaten. Americans houses, the doors are being knocked down, you know, without a warrant. No other police departments in America, run by Americans, has done what ICE has done,” Schumer claimed. “The American people are against what ICE is doing, so it was legitimate and right not to stand.”

Rep. Janelle Bynum (D-Ore.) even went so far as to call the president’s statement racist. “There [are] thinly veiled racist language, anti-immigrant language in what he was asking, and that was uncomfortable,” the congresswoman told reporters after the speech. “I think you can agree with that ‘what,’ like standing up for American citizens, but I disagree with the ‘how.’ And so, it’s always about how do we bring our country together but not stand on the backs of others.”

In comments to The Washington Stand, Jessica Vaughan, director of Policy Studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, said, “The president’s challenge to the Democrats to stand up if they agree that our government should favor the interests of Americans over illegal aliens was a bold act of political stagecraft. It’s only slightly surprising that so many Democrats fell for it.” She continued, “It should have been easy for them to agree with the statement and maintain the appearance of reasonableness, while winking to their leftist-open-borders flank, but instead they showed everyone that they only stand with illegal aliens.” Vaughan observed, “This shows the public that their agenda is only to resist Trump, not work on an immigration policy that works for Americans.”

Hecklers in the House

Ahead of the president’s speech, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) advised members of his party not to be disruptive, recommending that they either skip the State of the Union or else remain silent. Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), a Somali immigrant, and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) broke ranks, however, and openly heckled Trump during his speech, calling out “You should be ashamed!” and accusing the Trump administration of having “killed Americans” when the president addressed immigration policy.

Omar defended her conduct in a subsequent interview, telling CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, “I think it was, really, unavoidable. The president talked about protecting Americans. And I just had to remind him that his administration was responsible for killing two of my constituents,” referring to agitators Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who were killed in Minnesota earlier this year while interfering with ICE operations. “I think many people look at that moment when the president says it is our responsibility to protect Americans, and he does not acknowledge the fact that two Americans, two of my constituents, two of our neighbors, were killed,” Omar continued. “It was important, for me, [to] just remind the American people that the president and his administration were responsible for killing two American citizens.”

In response, Trump suggested that Omar and Tlaib should be removed from the U.S. “When you watch Low IQ Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, as they screamed uncontrollably last night at the very elegant State of the Union, such an important and beautiful event, they had the bulging, bloodshot eyes of crazy people, LUNATICS, mentally deranged and sick who, frankly, look like they should be institutionalized,” he said in a Truth Social post. “When people can behave like that, and knowing that they are Crooked and Corrupt Politicians, so bad for our Country, we should send them back from where they came — as fast as possible. They can only damage the United States of America, they can do nothing to help it.”

Vaughan commented, “Rep. Omar’s conduct was quite unbecoming, as was Rep Tlaib’s. It was not just a single outburst, which might be forgivable; it was heckling. It probably came across to many Americans as angry and radical.” She noted that Tlaib wore a keffiyeh and a “F*** ICE” pin, adding, “This plays right into Republicans’ political hands. It makes it easy for Republicans to argue that their legislative agenda is common sense.”

Erin Schniederjan, a Homeland Security research assistant at the Heritage Foundation, told TWS, “Rep. Ilhan Omar claims that ICE is occupying Minneapolis and that the Trump administration is responsible for the deaths of Americans, yet her support for open borders has actually gotten Americans killed: Laken Riley, Jocelyn Nungaray, and many others.” She continued, “ICE’s duty is to remove illegal aliens from our country, and Rep. Omar, the Somali immigrant who allegedly committed immigration fraud, doesn’t like that her Minnesota Somali voter base has been exposed for the fraudulent population that it is.”

‘Aspiring Americans’

Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger (D) was tasked with delivering her party’s rebuttal to the State of the Union, responding to the president’s record 108-minute speech with her own address of fewer than 13 minutes. During her remarks, Spanberger demonized ICE agents carrying out law enforcement operations. “They have ripped nursing mothers away from their babies. They have sent children — a little boy in a blue bunny hat, children — to far-off detention centers. And they have killed American citizens in our streets, and they have done it all with their faces masked from accountability,” the newly-minted governor claimed. She also referred to illegal immigrants as “people who aspire to be Americans.”

Political analyst and columnist Guy Benson quipped, “I think Spanberger just referred to illegal immigrants as people who ‘aspire to be’ American citizens.” He added, “She pretends ICE has only arrested innocent mothers and children. ~70% of ICE arrests in the last year have targeted people with criminal histories.”

Shortly after assuming office earlier this year, Spanberger implemented new policies barring state police from cooperating with ICE, including honoring ICE retainer requests.

Schniederjan commented, “People who genuinely aspire to become an American citizen will follow our immigration laws and assimilate into the American way of life. The illegal aliens who invade our country are economic opportunists exploiting the system to live off the American taxpayer and enrich their families back in their home country.”

Vaughan told The Washington Stand, “Governor Spanberger seemed out of touch with what Americans are looking for in policy and tone. According to the polls, Americans have illegal immigration fatigue and do not want the government to whitewash this problem by blurring the distinction between legal and illegal immigrants.” Americans, she said, “want to welcome legal immigrants on our terms, under an orderly, legal system. They do not want to allow criminal aliens to stay, and they do not want to import people who are hostile to our values or steal from our government programs.”