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The backlash against Trump administration's immigration policies has gone in a matter of days from routine protests to a strategy that includes confronting Cabinet members and other officials attached by Trump in virtually no time. Any public place.
Democratic Representative Maxine Waters of California over the weekend attempted to bring the "resistance" to a new level when she urged supporters to invade Cabinet members at the stations. service and everywhere else.
"If you see someone from that firm in a restaurant, in a department store, in a gas station, you go out and you create a crowd and you push them back and you tell them that they're no longer the ones welcome, no matter where "Waters said.
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She then told MSNBC that the protesters "will absolutely harass them".
This warning comes after Sarah Sanders, White House press secretary, was asked to leave a restaurant in Virginia, after a tumultuous week when the administration was forced to reconsider a policy separating immigrant families illegally crossed .
But the violent reactions and threats of further confrontation have raised security concerns and raised questions about whether a line is being crossed separating legitimate political protests from outright harassment.
Waters' comments sparked a strong reprimand from Republican lawmakers amid fears that demonstrations might intensify. A spokesman for the House's majority whip, Steve Scalise, who was injured during a shootout at a baseball practice in Congress a little over a year ago, cautioned against the dangers of rhetoric and protests.
"Whip Scalise knows first-hand the dangerous consequences that can result from the personalization and vitriol of political differences," spokeswoman Lauren Fine said in a statement. "We are fortunate to live in a country where we have the right to freely debate our civil differences Harassment is never an acceptable method of disagreement."
For the moment, a popular tactic seems to be confronting senior officials in restaurants.
Earlier this week, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen had to interrupt a working dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Washington after protesters shouted "Shame!" until she is gone. And on Friday, the same day, Sanders was asked to leave the Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Virginia. Protesters gathered outside the Nielsen home in Virginia, chanting "no justice, no sleep".
Stephen Miller, the controversial White House counselor, was also tackled last week when he tried to dine at an upscale Mexican restaurant in Washington.
"Hey guys, who thought we'd be in a restaurant with a real fascist begging [for] A customer would have screamed at Miller, before the Trump staff member rushed, according to the New York Post.
On Saturday, Florida's Attorney General – and ardent supporter of Trump – Pam Bondi was confronted with a group of protesters outside the screening of a documentary about Mister Rogers in Tampa. A video of the confrontation shows the Florida AG leaving the theater as several people scream at him, with a woman seen screaming at Bondi's recent actions on health policy and his position on immigration. .
But Bondi told "Fox & Friends" on Monday that the harassment began while she was waiting online for tickets and continued inside the theater.
"Yes [Waters] wants people to protest that's one thing, but they're trying to start a fight, "said Bondi." I'm not going to change my life, that's what they want. "
Even celebrities are throwing themselves into the Trump Administration's deception, with John Oliver, the host of "Last Week Tonight," who is asking his audience to send obscene images to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and view the Sessions email account.
Actor Peter Fonda was also sentenced for his Twitter call for "tearing Barron Trump off his mother's arms and putting him in a cage with pedophiles."
Recent incidents prompted DHS over the weekend to issue a memo on "increased threat" against their employees due to the fury of Trump's "zero tolerance" immigration policy.
"This assessment is based on specific and credible threats that have been raised against some DHS employees and a sharp increase in the overall number of general threats against DHS employees – although the veracity of each threat varies," notes the deputy secretary by interim. Homeland Security Claire M. Grady said, according to CBS News. "In addition, over the past few days, thousands of employees have had their personally personally identifiable information [sic] published on social media. "
The memo recommends that employees take many safety precautions, including not displaying work badges in public, paying attention to public conversations and being cautious on all social media.
The White House has not responded to Fox News' request to comment on whether additional security measures are being taken with staff.
Many conservative columnists – and even some prominent Liberals – have come to the defense of Sanders, Nielsen and other members of the Trump administration staff for the harassment they face.
"Sanders' treatment at Red Hen Restaurant is the epitome of the double standard that many conservative Americans believe they have lived in for years," wrote Michael Graham, columnist for the Boston Herald.
As for the protesters, Graham wrote that "instead of being considered" terrorists "and" extremists "like Tea Partiers were in the Obama era. , the authors are recognized for having resisted the "evil".
As Graham has suggested, Democrats and moderate Republicans have faced similar security concerns at tense public meetings at the start of the Tea Party movement in the early days of the Obama administration.
David Axelrod, former political advisor to former President Obama, took Twitter this weekend to criticize the protesters today and say that they were doing more to help the government. Trump administration than to hurt her.
"A little surprised and dismayed by the number of people on the left who applauded the expulsion of @PressSec and his family in a restaurant, "tweeted Axelrod. "This, in the end, is a triumph for @realDonaldTrump America's vision: Now we are divided by red plates and blue plates! "
Fox News & Chad Pergram contributed to this report.
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