Two members of the San Jose City Council announced that they have left the Republican Party over President Trump’s treatment of immigrant families, The Mercury News reported.
Council members Dev Davis and Johnny Khamis called Trump’s immigration policies “unethical” during a press conference on Monday, highlighting the administration’s previous practice of separating immigrant families at the border. Trump signed an executive order to end the policy last week after facing intense backlash.
Khamis, an immigrant from Lebanon, said that he “cannot imagine being separated from my mom and dad after losing our home in a war and entering a strange country.”
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“I am not leaving the party,” Khamis said, according to The Mercury News. “I feel that the party has left me.”
Davis said she had wanted Republican leaders to speak out against Trump’s repeal of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and his comments blaming “both sides” for violence at the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va.
“But when Trump began separating asylum seekers from their children at the border, I could no longer wait for national Republican leaders to speak up,” Davis said. “I could not bear to see or even think about the unnecessary and traumatizing separation of children from their parents.”
Davis grew up with foster siblings and is the mother of two adopted children, the newspaper reported.
“The Republican Party I joined stood for freedom over tyranny, fiscal responsibility, free trade, national security — but most importantly, the Republican Party I joined recognized the importance of families,” she added. “I still hold those values, but the Republican Party no longer does.”
Both council members re-registered as “no party preference,” but said their views have not changed and likely won’t in the future, The Mercury News reported.
The representatives’ departure from the GOP leaves just one registered Republican on the council.