NJ Congressman Boycotting Trump’s 1st State Of Union: Report

A New Jersey representative in the U.S. House of Representatives has declared his plan to boycott President Trump’s first State of the Union address on Tuesday, a report says.

A spokesperson for Rep. Albio Sires told NJ.com that the congressman will not be attending Trump’s address “because many of his constituents are offended by the president's rhetoric and behavior.”

Although lawmakers in several other states have announced their plans to boycott Tuesday’s State of the Union, Sires is the first in New Jersey to do so.

Sires represents New Jersey’s 8th District, which includes Bayonne, Belleville, East Newark, Elizabeth, Fairview, Guttenberg, Harrison, Hoboken, Newark, North Bergen, Union City, Weehawken, West New York, Jersey City and Kearny.

According to his congressional website, Sires was born in the Cuban town of Bejucal, and grew up in the waning years of pre-Communist Cuba. His family fled in January 1962 with the help of relatives in America. He lives in West New York.

Sires has been a vocal critic of many of the Trump Administration’s immigration policies, as well as the president’s alleged comments about “sh******” countries.

“Trump’s vulgar language is just another example of his disregard for hardworking Americans that come from all walks of life,” Sires said earlier this month when reports of the president’s alleged remarks surfaced.

Sires continued:

“I came to this country from Cuba as a young child and saw every day how hard my parents worked to make sure I had the opportunity for a better life. That is the same hard work I see time and again from people in my district, dedicating themselves to bettering their communities and making our country a better place for future generations. It unfortunately comes as no surprise that the President has no respect for immigrant communities and views himself as superior to people that don’t look, talk, and act like him. Making racist comments against people who have been living in America for centuries and have worked tirelessly to lift our great nation up is disgraceful. Diversity is one of America’s greatest strengths and sadly our President seems unable to grasp what really does make America great."

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Photo 1: sires.house.gov

Photo 2: whitehouse.gov