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Here are the guests Southern California lawmakers are bringing to State of the Union address

by in News

Think of it as the Oscars red carpet, State of the Union style.

But instead of outfits and hairdos, the focus is on who members of Congress are bringing as guests to the annual speech from the president about how America is doing. Often, the choice of guest is – much like the speech itself – a political statement, one meant to show approval or scorn of a president’s policies.

This year’s State of the Union guests from the Democrat-heavy California delegation include a woman who lost her home to a wildfire and her income to last month’s federal government shutdown, President Donald Trump’s former housekeeper, and undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children.

Here are some of the guests who will be in the gallery when Trump speaks Tuesday, Feb. 5.

Victims of fire, shutdown, or both

Trisha Pesiri-Dybvik, guest of Democratic presidential candidate and Sen. Kamala Harris, D-California, is a wife of a Navy veteran and a mother of three. In 2017, her family was displaced by the Thomas Fire, which destroyed their Ventura home.

They moved to a rental property in Camarillo, which they had to evacuate in 2018 when rains threatened to cause flooding and mudslides in burn areas from that year’s Woolsey and Hill fires.

Trisha Pesiri-Dybvik (Courtesy photo).

So far this year, Pesiri-Dybvik, an air traffic control specialist, has been forced to work without a paycheck when the government shut down for 35 days over a dispute between Trump and congressional Democrats over the president’s demand for a border wall.

She won’t be the only air traffic controller affected by the shutdown to attend Trump’s speech. Shyan-Lasater-Bailey of Moreno Valley, who works at Palm Springs International Airport, will be the guest of Rep. Mark Takano, D-Riverside.

Coast Guard members also worked without pay during the shutdown. To bring attention to their struggles, Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragan, D-San Pedro, is inviting retired Coast Guard Capt. Charlene Downey.

Trump’s former housekeeper

A Costa Rica native and the guest of Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Los Angeles, Sandra Diaz worked as a housekeeper at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., from 2010 to 2013.

Now a U.S. citizen, the New York Times reported that Diaz was an undocumented immigrant at the time that she worked for Trump, and her supervisors were aware of her status. “She said she washed and ironed Mr. Trump’s white boxers, golf shirts and khaki trousers, as well as his sheets and towels,” the Times article read.

“It’s no small feat for a migrant from Costa Rica to stand up to a bully and hypocrite in the White House,” Gomez said in a news release.

“She is living proof that President Trump couldn’t be more wrong – both morally and factually – when he demonizes those who come to America seeking a better life.”

Opioid crisis

The guest of Rep. Judy Chu, D-Pasadena, Ryan Hampton became addicted to opioids 15 years ago during treatment for an injury, said Ben Surato, a Chu spokesman.

Since then, Hampton has stopped using heroin and written a book about the opioid crisis, “American Fix: Inside the Opioid Addiction Crisis and How to End It.”

“He was able to get treatment, only to see his friend die in a sober-living facility due to lack of training and resources,” Surato. “After that, he reached out to Rep. Chu … That meeting resulted in … the Ensuring Access to Quality Sober Living Act which was ultimately included in the opioids package signed into law last year.”

Tuesday, an op-ed by Hampton, who once worked in the Clinton White House, will run in USA Today “about how pharmaceutical companies and domestic policies are driving the opioid crisis, not the (border) wall,” Surato added.

Feb. 2, 2019 marked Hampton’s fourth sober anniversary.

DREAMers

For several lawmakers, their State of the Union guest will be a DREAMer, an undocumented immigrant who was brought to the United States as a child. The residency status of most DREAMers has been in limbo since the president announced plans to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a program that shields DREAMers from deportation.

Rep. Lou Correa, D-Santa Ana, is bringing a former DREAMer, Marco Villada, who last year became trapped in Mexico (he previously had received State Department permission to leave the U.S.) while attempting to change his residency status after marrying his husband. He has since returned to the United States.

Other DREAMers accompanying members of Congress to the State of the Union include Lucero Sanchez, who attends UC San Diego and is the guest of Rep. Mike Levin, D-San Juan Capistrano, and Miriam Tellez, a Cal State Fullerton student and the guest of Rep. Gil Cisneros, D-Yorba Linda.