A Democratic congressman brought an illegal immigrant to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech on Tuesday night.
Democratic Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton invited Marcelo Gomes da Silva, who was detained by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after he overstayed a student visa, to the speech. Gomes da Silva was hustled to the ex-Marine’s congressional office after the Department of Homeland Security noted he was in the country illegally in a Tuesday evening post on X, according to a Wednesday statement.
“During last night’s State of the Union address inside the U.S. Capitol, a decision was made out of an abundance of caution to pull Congressman Moulton’s guest, Marcelo Gomes da Silva, from the House gallery audience after the official government account for the Department of Homeland Security issued this tweet at 8:24 PM ET targeting and harassing Marcelo,” Aidan Curran, Moulton’s communications director, claimed in the release.
“Marcelo was escorted from the House gallery at approximately 9:45 PM by a staff member from Congressman Moulton’s office. After leaving the State of the Union, Marcelo returned to Congressman Moulton’s office and watched the remainder of the speech from there,” Curran added.
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Democrats remained seated during a moment in Trump’s speech when the president asked if they could agree to put American citizens ahead of illegal immigrants. Moulton fired back at DHS in a post on X.
“Marcelo has been in the U.S. since he was 6 years old. Zero criminal record. You’re not making anyone safer by targeting him,” the ex-Marine claimed. “You’re just proving how far you’ll go to terrorize young people trying to build a future in this country.”
On its account, DHS criticized Moulton for bringing da Silva in for the State of the Union address. DHS also called out Democratic Sens. John Hickenlooper of Colorado and Chuck Schumer of New York for also bringing illegal immigrants to the address as guests.
“Gomes DaSilva is an illegal alien who has no right to be in our nation,” DHS said. “We are committed to enforcing the law and fighting for the arrest, detention, and removal of aliens like him.”
Border czar Tom Homan told ESPN host Stephen A. Smith in a July 2025 interview that ICE agents would not ignore illegal immigrants they came across, even if they had no criminal record.
“Just because we’re prioritizing public safety threats doesn’t mean everybody else gets a pass,” Homan said.
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